EDINA, Minn. (WCCO)– Recycling is an important part of many peoples’ lives, but most wouldn’t think to recycle their house.

For one Edina couple, that is exactly the plan: pick up the house they no longer want and move it 35 miles away to Montrose where it will enjoy a second life in a new location.

The house is structurally sound, but the owners want something bigger and newer on their prime lot in Edina. So, the house was cut into three parts — the garage and two other sections — and will be transported to Montrose at night.

Navid Pauladian from Passages Design Build, a local home building company handling the move, describes the process as fairly straightforward.

“If it’s strong enough to be moved, we hire specialists and they come and pick up the house, move it off site and basically find a new home for it, build a new foundation and set the house in place,” he said.

It turns out that recycling a used home by moving it to a new location makes sense for the economy as well as the environment.

According to Pauladian, moving a house not only saves the building with its plumbing and wiring, it saves the neighborhood environment from the mess of demolition.

“There’s a lot of dust from insulation, sheet rock and everything,” he said. “And right now there is barely any dust without the house being torn down.”

In this case, there are other environmentally-friendly procedures taking place. The roots of a nearby tree are protected by a mound of mulch during moving and construction, plastic barriers keep rainwater from washing dirt off the lot and stone from the front of the old house will be used in the landscaping of the new home.

“We pretty much saved as much as we could,” said Pauladian.

Before you jump to recycle your home, however, keep in mind that moving a house requires a permit from the state of Minnesota. Also, don’t expect the process to happen right away. The state tells house movers what roads to use and when.