"Innovations" Case Studies: Last Chance Mercantile

Case Studies

• Urban Ore
• Recycletown

Urban Ore

Urban Ore is the model for the Last Chance. It is a for-profit corporation in Berkeley, Calif., whose corporate purpose is “to end the age of waste.” Urban Ore works toward that goal by running a salvaging and reuse business, by helping build the reuse and recycling industries, and by designing comprehensive systems to replace landfills. These systems can be designed for cities or rural areas. Urban Ore salvages materials from landfills and sells the merchandise in retail trade. Urban Ore began in 1980. It was given permission to:

• Salvage at the city landfill.
• Place salvaged goods on the side of the road to the landfill.
• Sell those goods from the roadside.

The organization borrowed a pickup truck to help in those efforts, and the rest is history. Today Urban Ore grosses $1.5 million every year and employs 25 people. Now the organization primarily diverts materials from going to waste. Only 15 percent of its materials are recovered after tipping at the local transfer station.

When people bring things to Urban Ore’s receiving area, they are grateful to be rid of something and to know someone else will get use out of it. When people buy things at the Urban Ore store, they are glad to have found something unique without spending too much. The facility’s merchandise also permits low-income people to keep up their properties at an affordable cost, contributing to enhanced appearance and property values. Some people even supplement their retirement income by buying things, fixing them, and reselling them.

Urban Ore has several departments: building materials exchange, hardware exchange, arts and media exchange, general store, and salvage and recycling. Urban Ore notes that all economic growth is built on resources and that reuse and recycling conserves resources and money. Every time a discarded item passes through a process and someone’s hands, it generates income. Every step in recycling processing is like a little money pump, sending cash back through the economy where the processing facility is located. Urban Ore emphasizes that this is an opportunity for local officials to stimulate long-term economic growth while providing a “green” legacy for their children.

Groups have visited Urban Ore from all over the world, including the Netherlands, Japan, China, and Korea. It has been the subject of several nationally syndicated television programs featuring environmentally sustainable business methods. It was even photographed for Better Homes and Gardens Magazine to give upscale people interesting design ideas.

Urban Ore also provides consulting and systems design services to entrepreneurs and governments in both rural areas and big cities. Urban Ore has helped develop innovative programs throughout the United States and Canada; and in Melbourne, Canberra, and Adelaide, Australia.

Urban Ore has found that although people, culture, and local environment may vary, the social and technical problems related to disposing of unwanted resources and developing them into opportunities are remarkably similar. They stress that waste is not waste until it’s wasted. Urban Ore has developed a method for profiling the supply of discarded materials. They stress that we have all the technology needed to recycle most everything that is now wasted. What is needed is a change in people’s behavior.

To modify behavior, Urban Ore gives people what they want. In particular, Urban Ore rewards people both spiritually and financially for doing the right thing. If they stop by Urban Ore before going to the transfer station or landfill, the company promises to do its best to find new homes for these unwanted materials. This is a big relief morally and spiritually to most people, so they feel they are helping to solve problems instead of creating them. Also, Urban Ore saves people money if they don’t have to pay the tipping fee to dispose of the materials. As a final bonus, Urban Ore often pays them for the materials.

In 1998 Urban Ore put $283,000 in cash and trade credit into people’s hands. When people are provided a service they find valuable, when they are treated politely, and when they are rewarded financially, they tell their friends and they come back.

Urban Ore’s smallest comprehensive center was designed for a town of about 200 on the Oregon coast, where people were worried about long distances to the markets. This turned out to be a much smaller problem than they first thought, and their center is now operational. It has a community center incorporated into the design, so it is a popular gathering place.

Urban Ore’s designs promise a very exciting future. Development can be done on any scale. They naturally tailor their designs to the local supply and demand, especially if the resources are profiled correctly at the start. Their designs keep money cycling locally and are excellent for rural development. They provide many small niches for specialty operators, advocating that this is the most sustainable structure. A community is not reliant on a single entity to accomplish everything. Their developments are particularly popular with people who like small towns and rural environments. Urban Ore notes that nearly every day a customer thanks them for existing. It’s a rewarding way to live.

Back to Top

Recycletown

Recycletown is another example of a program designed to promote reuse of materials. Operated for more than a decade by Garbage Reincarnation, Inc. (a local nonprofit educational group), Recycletown is located at the Sonoma County Central Landfill. Garbage Reincarnation is under contract to the County of Sonoma. Recycletown processes large volumes of materials for reuse and recycling, with about 50 tons a month sold for reuse. More than 300 tons of metal and significant amounts of paper, glass, and other recyclables are recycled.

Recycletown is a good nonprofit model for other reuse operations, and it is also a model for suburban communities. The educational aspect of the project is equally as important as the business side. Recycletown has been geared to suburbanites who aren’t very interested in reuse, so the program had to make the concept of reuse attractive to people who would rather buy new items.

However, the target group finds recycling attractive because they view it as a statement of support for the environment. The success of Recycletown proves that such a facility can be created anywhere.

In the early 1980s, Urban Ore and Recycletown were the two reuse programs of particular note in California. During that period, Recycletown operated at a small site originally intended only as a drop-off for recyclables. In 1992, as the IWMA mandated communities to reduce waste going to the landfill, Recycletown was expanded into an additional 2-acre site.

The new expansion featured a large used building materials yard and a series of stores to house the reusables. This series of stores was constructed largely by volunteers and is made entirely from salvaged building materials. Recycletown was designed to look like a Wild West frontier town. This unique look draws interest in reuse from all over the country, showing many creative ways to use salvaged building materials.

At Recycletown there is a whole wall made of bottles, windows made with etched glass from shower glass doors, railings made from grape stakes, and timbers from a bridge torn down by the road department. Used power poles were used in the pole and beam construction.

In keeping with its educational role, Recycletown has held an annual “Scrapture” event since 1987. An average of 40 to 50 different artists and craftspeople bring entries to this competition based on the most creative uses of materials. This event has been emulated in many other communities and brings much media attention.

Reuse has more to offer a community than dollars and diversion tonnages. Reuse is a community resource. Local businesses have a place to bring their discards, and local small repair businesses, thrift stores, and the general public can find bargains and items that they cannot find elsewhere.

For example, Friedman Bros. staff routinely refers people to Recycletown for toilet tank lids. Toilet tank lids are not sold separately. When they break, people are excited to find replacement lids wherever they can. The same holds true for many replacement parts for all kinds of products.

Reuse yards are very easy to create. No capital equipment is needed. All that is needed is space, which rural communities often have in abundance. If there is no money for buildings to house the reusables, local volunteers can be inspired to create buildings from what is now going into the landfill, as they did at Recycletown.

Back to Top | Innovations Home | Next Section