SE:How We Help The Environment

We collect donated business surplus from companies
in the metro Kansas City area, surrounding areas, and nationally. In 1996,
we diverted some 50,000 non compressed cubic yards of business waste out
of area landfills. That is roughly enough to cover an entire football field
with a layer of materials 30 feet deep. In weight, this amounts to about
6,687.5 tons. Between our reuse and recycling efforts we were able to keep
all but 3% of the items we collected out of the landfill, (this 3% is mostly
represented by damaged-beyond-repair wood and wood laminated products).

Naturally, our first choice is to provide the best products of these
collected, reusable items to our charitable membership. Reusables that charities
can’t use or can’t use up in the quantities we receive, are offered in surplus,
public, or scrap markets in an effort to keep them out of the landfill and
offset our operating costs. The revenues generated from these items helps
us keep our prices to charities low and fund our programs and environmental
efforts.

The reuse and/or recycling of used electronics, metals, and other redeemables
saves renewable resources from being forever lost in the dump. It is estimated
that, by the year 2005, more than 150 million personal computers will be
resting in America’s landfills. With financial assistance from the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment,
the Mid-America Regional Council, and various corporate funders, we are
able to address these problems.