MOHAVE COUNTY – “Repurposing” is the newest frontier in landfill diversion and sustainability.
So, what are some examples of “repurposing?” It is taking a byproduct or waste stream such as a retired street sweeper brush and giving it a second life as a backscratcher for horses or cattle. It is taking a decommissioned fire hose and giving it an extended life as a boat dock fender. It is taking an obsolete ski lift cable and giving it a second life as hand railing in a luxury condo building.
The company, repurposedMATERIALS, will keep 15,000,000 pounds (about 250 truckloads) out of the landfill this year by finding very different second lives – “repurposes” – for castoffs of American industry.
“Repurposing” is not recycling. In recycling, you have to size reduce waste in a very energy intensive process. For example, chip it, shred it, grind it, melt it. Re-use is kind of the overlooked, but much environmentally friendly, solution of the famous Reduce, Re-use, Recycle triangle.
“Repurposing” is just creative re-use giving a waste material a very different second life.
As more and more companies and industries are placing greater and greater emphasis on landfill diversion and sustainable practices, the concept of “repurposing” is giving corporate America a new avenue for waste streams that would otherwise be landfilled.
Does ‘repurposing’ make more sense environmentally or economically? Or, said another way, repurposing is at the intersection of sustainability and affordability.
To date, the repurposedMATERIALS company has helped a number of organizations through repurposing including the U.S. Army, Denver Broncos, City of Chicago, Nestles, BNSF Railroad, Oklahoma State University, Purina, US National Forest Service, Campbells Soup, State of Wyoming, and Paramount Pictures.
To see all the kinds of materials that can be repurposed, visit www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com.
The repurposedMATERIALS store is located at 5295 Lakewood Rd., Ft. Mohave.
