This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Thomas Beeson, door specialist, carries a door to the Building Materials receiving department at Urban Ore in Berkeley. Entering the vast warehouse that is the Urban Ore salvage yard in Berkeley has the uncanny feeling of wading into the subconscious of a well-organized hoarder. Visitors are greeted by orderly rows of secondhand clothes, metal and glass appliances from ages past and well-loved wooden furniture. High above, paper mache flying saucers, dragon’s heads, flags and fading posters festoon the rafters. Keeping the place on its feet is Max Wechsler, Urban Ore’s operations manager whose reddish beard, black ballcap and measured, pensive tone belie an intense commitment to the zero-waste ethos that keeps the store standing as much as its sheet metal walls. The Chronicle’s flagship news podcast. Listen and subscribe on your favorite app. Click the player below for the latest episode. Chase DiFeliciantonio is a reporter at The San Francisco Chronicle on the Transformation team, where he covers tech culture, workplace safety and labor issues in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and beyond. Prior to joining The Chronicle, he covered immigration for the Daily Journal, a legal affairs newspaper, […]