Why ReUse
Reuse is more than saving materials—it’s about creating opportunities for empowerment, skill sharing, and connection within the community, powering a local economic engine, and positively impacting the environment. At Finger Lakes ReUse, we recognize the transformative benefits that the act of reuse offers, and we want to share our model with your community!
Community
Values of safety, respect, and resourcefulness define the workplace culture at Finger Lakes ReUse. Through our Community ReUse Center model, individuals who once felt marginalized now have a place, a purpose, and a pathway to self-sufficiency. Our ReSET Job Training Program offers paid, hands-on job skills training to adults who have experienced barriers to employment to help jumpstart their careers.
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At Community ReUse Centers, members of our communities can find an open and welcoming environment where they learn job skills, take and share responsibility, become part of a team, take on challenges, build confidence, and receive recognition for their accomplishments. The community finds answers to technical questions and discusses creative reuse solutions with other shoppers, employees, and volunteers. Finger Lakes ReUse fosters civic involvement through its volunteer opportunities and educational programs. Finger Lakes ReUse also fills a unique niche that complements and enhances human service programs.
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Yet challenges remain, especially in serving the needs of communities. Too many families still lack a computer for their children’s homework. Too many people remain unemployed or underemployed. Reuse offers more than just an inclusive environmental solution—it offers social and economic benefits as well. By giving materials a second life, we create jobs, provide access to resources, and strengthen our community from the ground up.
Economy
Finger Lakes ReUse actively transforms liabilities (the cost of solid waste) into community assets (taxable, durable goods; living wage jobs; and job training opportunities). Unemployment and underemployment persist as one of the greatest challenges facing New York State communities. Since opening our first ReUse Center in a shopping mall in 2008, we have created 85 living wage jobs. Currently, we employ more than 80 people who previously relied on public assistance programs such as food stamps and SNAP benefits, and who now earn a living wage. We have not only saved community members nearly $1 million in waste disposal fees, we have sold more than $17.5 million in used merchandise and generated $1.4 million in sales tax. Your Community ReUse Center can do the same!
Environment
The action of reusing materials has a rich variety of positive multiplying effects: Diverting materials from landfills, avoiding extraction and production of new resources and materials, reducing CO2, harnessing embodied energy, preserving natural resources, creating meaningful jobs and job training opportunities, empowering people, and offering re-entry opportunities. Plus, it’s fun! In 2024, we averaged more than 2,200 items returned to use daily.
Meanwhile, in New York State, according to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, landfills have less than 20 years of permitted capacity remaining, demonstrating the urgent need for solutions that make real impacts. More than half of the nation’s waste stream consists of construction and demolition debris – building materials that are highly reusable. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, if we could extend the life of every personal computer in the US, we would reduce CO2 emissions by 25 million metric tons annually. Only 15 percent of used textiles are reused or recycled; the rest ends up in landfills. CRCs retain these valuable materials and put them back into the economy for continued use.
Why ReUse?
The facts make its power clear
Reuse creates at least 30 times
more jobs than landfills.
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Per person, Americans throw away an average of 4.9 pounds of stuff everyday – that’s 1,800 pounds per individual every year! Imagine if some of that material – clothing, furniture, appliances -- was put back into the local economy for reuse by others.
Reuse retail value (aggregate): $2,000+ per ton
Recycling market value:
$70-185 per ton*
Based on 2019-2022: Tompkins County, NY, reuse centers and *Northeast Recycling Council (NERC)