The frame is made from recycled wood from a demolished home. The walls are made of recycled beer bottles, soda bottles and plastic fruit cups. The floor is made of recycled carpet from Christie Lane Industries. These and other reusable materials will make up a soon-to-be-completed house at the Erie County Fairgrounds, made totally from recycled materials.

Christie Lane Industries (A.K.A. CLI) is a non-profit business whose mission is to increase the earnings of workers with developmental disabilities. CLI is most known for the JIT (Just in Time) light assembly services that it provides to area businesses. Because it has become so hard to find enough assembly contracts to employ its 120-plus workers, CLI is actively pursuing new market niches. Many of the best new opportunities are green.

Christie Lane Industries (CLI) is an unusual type of nonprofit organization. That is due only partly to its mission of increasing the income and status of Huron County residents with developmental disabilities.

Under the enthusiastic leadership of Director John Schwartz, CLI has launched a number of "green" businesses, including document destruction, recycling and tile making.  CLI Document Destruction recycled more than 125 tons of office paper in 2007. On average, the program shreds 42,000 pounds of paper each month.

Christie Lane Industries has launched a new pilot program to provide glass to a Cleveland recycler.

Christie Lane, a school and workshop operated by the Huron County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, recycles glass and uses it to manufacture and sell its own line of products called CliTile.

"Right now, there is a shortage of recycled glass on the market. We're going to try this for a month to see if it's profitable. If so, we will include glass in our current recycling program and charge a nominal fee to businesses for pick up," said John Schwartz, director of the adult programs and facilities at HCMRDD.