With the increased level concern for environmental sustainability, coupled with a record-breaking number of building projects underway within the Lower Mainland, it is a key time for the City of Vancouver to implement strategies and tactics to grow the local market for salvaged materials, in alignment with its Greenest City Action Plan.

In order to foster Vancouver’s market for salvaged materials, secondary and qualitative research was conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of the current market and its potential to grow over the next two years. This research was used to develop a two-year marketing campaign that can be implemented to educate consumers on salvaged materials and help change consumer preference to increase the uptake of salvaged materials in the local market.

Educating consumers on various aspects of the salvaged materials market – such as the direct sources for these materials, which materials can be salvaged, and the applications in which salvaged materials can be used – will help organically grow the market. Demand can also be increased by changing consumer preference through messaging that provokes emotion. This will result in an increased uptake from companies in various industries such as architecture and design, building, and food service.

Increasing consumer awareness of the benefits related to salvaged materials is another key aspect of increasing the uptake for this market.