The Surplus Exchange

The Surplus Exchange began operations in a garage in 1984. The original mission was to collect surplus business goods and redistribute them to the nonprofit community. As a 501(c) 3, the Surplus Exchange could offer gift-in-kind receipts to businesses and provide furniture and goods at very low prices. This provided a valuable service to businesses and nonprofits each day. The businesses received tax breaks, reduced items in storage and the nonprofits found good useable furniture and saved money. The environment benefited from a reduction in reusable items from the waste stream.

From these humble beginnings The Surplus Exchange grew. The organization moved to the West Bottoms of Kansas City, Missouri. Today, The Surplus Exchange operates out of a 38,000 square foot warehouse at 518 Santa Fe. The Exchange bought the 518 Santa Fe building after a fire damaged our facility at 1107 Hickory in January of 2005.

Today the organization’s mission is much the same as it was 20 years ago. With the technology boom of the late 1980s and 1990s, surplus electronics; business machines, and computers became available. The surplus electronics also posed an environmental threat. By 1997, we had diverted roughly 55,000 non compressed cubic yards of business waste, consisting of furniture and electronics, out of area landfills. That is roughly enough to cover an entire football field with a layer of materials 35 feet deep. In weight, this amounts to a little more than 7000 tons.

In 2005, we recycled 655 tons of just electronics. This number jumped to 805.1 tons in 2006 and we expect this number to increase more each year, as more people learn the importance of recyclin e-waste and we have more community recycling events.

Much of the electronics are sent to a reclaiming facility. But good, reusable electronics are made available to nonprofit organizations, new businesses and students in need; and are also sold to the general public to help divert the cost of our recycling programs and other efforts. The Surplus Exchange partners with local agencies to aid the community through multiple recycling events per year.

The reuse and/or recycling of used electronics, metals, and other redeemables saves renewable resources from being forever lost in the dump.

We often start our work day picking up electronic equipment dropped at our facility after business hours. We know that many people drop their electronics thinking they are doing the right thing. From the stand point of the environment, they are. But this practice puts a financial strain on our organization. We will recycle the items left on our dock or by our front door. But we will incur and expense in the process. Since we find items that have been left outside in the weather, we can not consider them for one of our reuse programs.

Adopt a Monitor

The cost to recycle a monitor is just $12.00. One small donation of $12.00 will pay to recycle a monitor left on our door step. Of course you can make larger donations and they will be used in our efforts to reduce eWaste from our area landfills.

All donations are processed through the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. Just click on the DONOR EDGE icon below. All donations are tax deductible.

Become an Environmental E-Champion

Educating the general public on the need to recycle electronics and reduce solid waste in the community is the key to winning our environmental battle. You can help by spreading the word. Become a Surplus Exchange E-Champion.

An E-Champion will receive alerts and updates from The Surplus Exchange. All we ask you to do is forward the information through your e-mail network. As a nonprofit we can’t afford to do huge mass mailings or buy lists. Our E-Champions help us spread the word through the community and they help us recruit more E-Champions.

Just send us an e-mail to bobakers@surplusexchange.org with E-champion in the subject line. We will send you information form the EPA, The Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Kansas Health & Environment, as well as other sources. We will also let you know about special events, community collections and even sales.