Converting a 40-year-old apartment building into a posh condominium can produce a lot of waste, but developers of one project in Oliver did their best to keep as much of it as possible out of the landfill.

Old plumbing fixtures, glass, wiring and insulation were given away or sold, says Kurt Masse, head of Keystone Capital, developer of Trademark Luxury Condominiums, located at 11325 103rd Ave.

"There's so much garbage that gets taken out of a place during a rehab that we're trying to cut down on the amount that's going into the landfill," Masse says.

The company advertised the giveaways on Internet sites and had no shortage of takers.

"All the windows and patio doors have been replaced ... so we gave away glass," he says.

"One of the great uses was the patio doors. Two people took them and made greenhouses out of them."

Other items went as quickly.

"We put in new insulation and some of the old stuff we gave away to people that wanted to insulate their places for the winter," says Masse. "We gave away cabinets, old mailboxes; the old boiler was given away to a farmer."

Someone even found a use for old bathroom tile.

"A fellow came and got the old tile because it came off in full pieces, and he was able to use it to tile around his barbecue pit."

Colourful bathtubs, toilets and sinks, popular in the 1970s, were taken to consignment stores.

"We had yellow, pink, green, blue," Masse says.

"People have old toilets in houses. They might break a lid or seat and can't get a replacement. So some of the secondhand places around town love these."

The developer wasn't as lucky finding homes for the decades-old gold and green refrigerators and stoves that were hauled out of the apartments.

"We tried to give them away," says Masse. But most ended up at metal recyclers.

Some of the building's old material was reused in the renovation, including railings from demolished balconies.

"The metal from that was used to do other projects around here like reinforcing some of the interior railings and even making some bike racks."

When the developer re-landscaped the grounds, replacing grass with rocks and boulders to cut down on watering and maintenance costs, a mature tree had to be removed.

"It was an evergreen that was a little less than six feet high," Masse says.

"We donated it and someone came and got it."

Overall, it was worth the effort to recycle, says Masse.

"The main thing was that it wasn't going in the garbage and the second thing is that it's off the site."