This weekend at ReUse

We will be holding a highway cleanup on Saturday, March 31. This cleanup is in conjunction with the Keep Ohio Beautiful and Ohio Department of Transportation Roadway Cleanup, which is a part of the Great American Cleanup. We'd love to have you come out and volunteer with us that day! Volunteers should meet at ReUse Industries' main facility, located at 74815 US Highway 50 (just west of Albany) at 10:45 AM. The cleanup will begin at 11 AM and last until 3 PM. Lunch will be provided to all volunteers!

Kroger Bake Sale

We will be holding a fundraising bake sale at the Athens Kroger on East State St. on Monday April 2 from 3 PM to 7 PM. We'll be selling all sorts of delicious baked goods, and we'd love to see everyone out at Kroger that day!

Glouster ReUse Day Pictures

Our Glouster ReUse Day, made possible by a grant from the Athens Foundation, took place of March 10 of this year. Though the weather was less than desirable, the residents of Glouster donated an amazing 2500 pounds of reusable materials. We apologize for taking so long to post these, but here they are!

Above: The ReUse trucks at Glouster Memorial Park.

Above: AmeriCorps*VISTAs Jennifer Squires, Ben Frese
and Max Felsher discuss the days events.

Above: Some of the great donations we received in Glouster.

Above: More great donations.

No Impact Man

Meet Colin Beavan. He is a 43 year-old writer who resides in Manhattan with his wife Michelle and daughter Isabella. Four months ago, he and his family embarked on a yearlong experiment they refer to as No Impact. Essentially, Mr. Beavan and his family have resolved to cause no "net environmental impact". They are heavily engaged in source reduction- simply put, not buying anything new except for socks and underwear (as well as a few other personal items), and making sure that any other purchases they make have either no or very little packaging. They have made to switch to eating only organic food, producing little to no trash, and using no paper (include the paper of the toilet variety).

Beavan is reminiscent of the San Francisco-based movement, The Compact, which we blogged on earlier this year. However, he takes his pledge to buy nothing new a step further than those in The Compact. If he were to buy, say, a used book, he must also donate or sell a book of his own to a bookstore or charity. In Beavan's world, everything must equal out to zero. As he says on his blog, "Negative Impact + Positive Impact = Zero". Thus, he intends to make no net impact on the environment.

To read more about Beavan's fascinating experiment, you can visit his blog, No Impact Man. There is also a fantastic New York Times article on Beavan and his family. Read on!

An Update

We have sold the 1991 Pontiac Grand Am that was listed on this blog and Craigslist! But fear not, as we've been getting many wonderful donations this week at all three of our locations due to spring cleaning activity! Thank you to everyone who has dropped of donations this week!

Highway Cleanup

On Saturday, March 31, ReUse Industries will be holding a highway cleanup. We'll be cleaning up the two-mile stretch of Route 50, located near our main facility, that we adopted a couple years ago. The cleanup will last from 11 am to 3 pm, and lunch will be provided to all volunteers! This cleanup is in conjunction with the annual Keep Ohio Beautiful and Ohio Department of Transportation Roadway Cleanup, which is part of the national Great American Cleanup.

If you are interested in volunteering with us that day, please call (740) 698-8200 ext. 15 and leave a message with your information so that we know you'll be coming. Or, if e-mail is more your thing, please drop me a line at sherri[at]reuseindustries.org!

Please note, we ask that all volunteers meet at the ReUse Industries farm on Route 50 at 10:45 am, March 31, 2007.

We hope to see you there!

Spring Cleaning?

Cleaning out your closets and don't know what to do with all the stuff you've found? Bring items that are reusable to any of our ReUse locations! We accept all sorts of items, from clothing to appliances to building materials and everything in between. For a more complete list of what we do and do not accept, please visit our Donor's page. Also, if you can't get your items to one of our locations yourself, you can schedule a pickup by calling (740) 698-8200 ext 10. Pickups are FREE within the city limits of Athens, Albany, McArthur, Jackson, Wellston and the Plains. However, there is a fee-based service for people who live outside of our free pickup areas. So remember, choose to ReUse when you're doing your spring cleaning!

An Update

We sold the Baldwin Model 5 organ listed in the previous blog entry! But don't worry- we still have lots of great items at our Albany, Athens and Wellston locations. Come pay us a visit! Hours for the three locations are as follows:

ReUse Industries - Albany
74815 US Highway 50, Albany, OH
10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday

ReUse Thrift Store - Athens
100 Columbus Road, Athens, OH
9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Saturday

ReUse Thrift Store - Wellston
102 S. Ohio Avenue, Wellston, OH
9 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday

See you soon!

Check out our Craigslist listings!

AmeriCorps*VISTA Max Felsher has recently posted a number of items on Craiglist.

We have:

• 10 - 12 boxes of three-ring binders, donated to us by Ohio University, at our Albany site. Please check out the posting at Craiglist by clicking here for more information. These binders are FREE, so come out to Albany and check them out!

• A 1991 Pontiac Grand Am was recently donated to us! It's in good condition and it runs well. We are asking $800 OBO. You must come to our Albany facility on Route 50 if you are interested in purchasing this vehicle. Please visit our Craigslist posting for more information by clicking here.
  

• We also recently recieved a 1950s Baldwin Model 5 organ. It seems to be fully functional, and it's awfully pretty. We're asking $100 OBO. You must come to our Albany facility to purchase this organ. For more information, please visit our Craigslist posting by clicking here.

ReUse Benefit Concert

AmeriCorps*VISTA Leo DeLuca has been hard at work setting up a very special benefit concert for ReUse Industries at The Union Bar and Grill in Athens. The show is set for April 6. Thus far, he has confirmed that Southeast Engine and local legend J.D. Hutchison will be playing!

We are honored to have both of these amazing acts, and this is sure to be a show that you won’t want to miss!

Project ReUse

Project ReUse, our first ever DIY fashion show, is beginning to take shape! The show will be held at Casa Cantina in Athens on May 12. In addition to a reuse fashion show featuring original designs by community members, we are also excited to announce that local bands Men of Gentle Birth and Paper Machetes will performing that night. It’s going to be a blast!

Glouster ReUse Day

We want to thank the residents of Glouster for making our Glouster ReUse Day a success! In spite of the rain that started to fall in the early afternoon, an amazing 2500 pounds of reusable materials were donated to us.

We’ve also held special ReUse Days in the communities of Chauncey, Jacksonville and Trimble. With the materials that we collected on March 10 in Glouster added in to our total, we have collected over 4100 pounds of reusable materials. That’s wonderful!

Stay tuned for pictures of our Glouster Day to be posted later this week!

Thrift Store Sales

The Athens Thrift Store is still holding its $3 bag sale. Stop in to save on winter clothing (jeans and coats are excluded). Our Wellston Thrift Store, located on Ohio Avenue in Wellston, is also having a sale! All winter clothing (jeans excluded) at the Wellston store is 50% off! So stop on by, and get a great deal at both ReUse Thrift Store locations!

Glouster ReUse Day

It was published in the Athens Messenger yesterday that we would have dropoff sites at both Glouster Memorial Park and near the Trimble Kroger. This is our mistake, and we apologize. The only dropoff site for our Community ReUse day in Glouster will be located at Glouster Memorial Park. Thanks to the Athens Messenger for printing a correction in today’s paper, as well!

In addition to having a dropoff site, residents of Glouster are encouraged to schedule pickups of their used items, as there is no charge for pickup service within village limits on March 10!

See you in Glouster!

Did you know?

• According to the U.S. EPA, nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete in the next five years. In 2001, only 11 percent of personal computers retired in the U.S. were recycled.
  
• Each computer dumped in a landfill is a missed opportunity to provide Information Age tools to people across the digital divide.
  
• Out-of-date computer systems can be more of a burden than a blessing to schools and nonprofits, as it can cost them up to $400 to bring a pre-Pentium computer up to today's standards. Donate computers to a recycler or refurbisher, rather than directly to these other groups.

(from techsoup.org)

ReUse Industries' PCs to the People program began in 2001 as a way to provide computers to low-income residents of Southeastern Ohio. Our program is still going strong, but there is always a need for more donations of computers! Donations of good condition, reusable materials are tax deductible. In addition to this, donating your old computer means that you are doing your part to make a world a cleaner place. And finally, your donation of a computer means that one more resident of Southeast Ohio will be able to cross the digital divide.

For more information on what kind of computers we accept, please call our main facility in Albany at (740) 698-8200!

The Reusable Suspects

There's a great article in today's online issue of the Guardian, a British newspaper, about creative ways to reuse regular household objects that would normally get thrown away. From lightbulb vases to plastic bottle gift wrap, it's all here!

The Guardian's Reusable Suspects

Glouster ReUse Day!

ReUse Industries will be having a Community Reuse Day in Glouster on March 10, 2007 from 10 am to 4 pm. Pickups of used items will be FREE to residents within the city limits of Glouster! We will also have a truck parked at Glouster Memorial Park from 10 am to 4 pm if you would like to bring your donations of reusable items to us.

If you live in the Glouster area, and would like to schedule a FREE pickup of your reusable items for March 10, please call 740-698-8200. Make sure to call between 10 am and 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday.

For more information on donations, please visit our website and click on the "Donors" link.

This project is possible through support from the Athens Foundation.