Reuse, RE-use, RE: ReuseAlliance.org

Just on my way back from the "Reuse Summit" at Devens Massachusetts, where WR3A.org sponsored a dinner of reuse advocates. Reuse was a track of the conference, held by Grass Roots Recycling Network, generally a "Zero Waste" group of hard-core former National Recycling Coalition members. It was great to catch up with folks like Jack De Bell, Ric Anthony, and the CRRA California crowd. (Didn't get to talk to Julie Muir, buy Hiii!)

Anyway, Good Point Recycling sponsored the dinner conversation in the name of WR3A, it was moderated by MaryEllen Etienne. About 30 attendees, most of them well known in the recycling field.

I shared the challenges of the World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association, which at certain points of fantasy aspired to represent all types of reuse. We wound up specializing in electronics, and there, mostly as a speed bump on the road to stopping all reuse exports.

We got traction by publishing useful data on one page, the "Mining Factsheet" of 2003 (mostly designed to point out that if exports are curtailed so much that the products we buy result in mining, then the perfect has become the enemy of the good). With the hits on that page, we attracted people with a similar mission. The first grant came three years later. Two weeks ago, to be precise. I am working on a press release. It's fantastic. Stay tuned.

The temptation is to start a directory of all reuse businesses. I think Craigslist has that covered. They can go to secondary research, from Dept of Commerce and places like Rochester Institute of Technology (Dr. Nasr is a remanufacturing guru there), and try to distill a "Factsheet". If the facts draw people, they have an audience ("Hey! That describes MY business!") and businesses will link to it or refer people to it. That can become a mailing list.

We'll stay in touch. We have revamped the Certification Tool page at WR3A.org. More on that, too, will come later.