ReUse Works: Recycling’s Not Enough

So you recycle your paper, cardboard, bottles and cans. Meanwhile, Whatcom County waste going to the landfill has increased by 27 percent over the past 10 years. Are we making progress, here? Have you reduced your consumption? Do you reuse?

Even though the 30-year old environmental slogan urges us to “reduce, reuse and recycle,” Americans have largely ignored “reduce” and “reuse” while getting too comfortable with their modest recycling efforts.

ReUse Works, a new Bellingham nonprofit organization, offers one way for local residents to counter this trend. You can now donate your old appliances (washers, dryers, ranges, fridges and freezers) for reuse.

ReUse Works is a job training business that accepts donations of appliances, working or not. Worker trainees repair and sell those that can be salvaged. The rest are stripped for reusable parts and then recycled. Proceeds from sales support job training and new jobs.

“Recycling is not enough,” insists Duane Jager, executive director of ReUse Works. “Consider the recycling costs when you ship recyclables out of the area, use energy to melt them down, use energy to re-manufacture a new product, use virgin materials for new products and then ship those products back into Whatcom County.”

“Why not keep our resources local by reusing what we can?” he asks. “We can create local jobs by reusing our local resources.”

“Over 200,000 tons of Whatcom County waste is ‘land-filled’ each year,” he said. “These are our natural resources.” Burying valuable resources in a sealed tomb, is constipating nature, Jager likes to say about landfills. He adds that virtually all discarded appliances in Whatcom County are recycled, not “land-filled.”

Even though he is an avid recycler, Jager promotes reuse first. He points out that more than 27,000 appliances are recycled every year in Whatcom County without first being assessed for their reuse potential.

“New appliance dealers routinely send their ‘take backs’ to be recycled,” he says. “We would like the consumer and the retailer to think ‘reuse’ first.”

Since opening last September, over 600 appliances have been donated to ReUse Works and over 200 of these were saved for reuse.

“When given the option, the public wants to do the right thing,” he said. “Reuse is not only good for the environment, but it supports sustainable jobs.”

Jager points to the RE Store and local thrift stores as other examples of how reuse creates jobs and benefits the community.

So when you’re about to make a purchase or are getting ready to discard an unwanted item, consider this 1930s depression era saying:

Use it up.

Wear it out.

Make it do.

Or do without.

And, if you have an old appliance or are looking for a replacement appliance, call ReUse Works at 360-527-2646. Located at 802 Marine Drive, they are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.