Waste Prevention

Reuse & Salvage

Many people routinely reuse items, through yard sales, hand-me-downs, and classified sections. This list will help you get started to find out about other ways to find new homes for materials.

1. Visit your local solid waste districts’ web sites for reuse opportunities in your area or give them a call. For example some districts have “Swap Shops” for used items; others hold annual swaps for materials such as clothing.

2. Check the Yellow Pages for listings of Reuse Businesses in Vermont:
Look under the headings of:

Antiques
Appliance – household-used
Books – used and rare
Building Materials - used
Clothing – second hand
Furniture – used
Office furniture and equipment renting, and leasing or repairing and refinishing
Shoe -repairing
Sporting goods –retail
Surplus and salvage merchandise

3. Use the Vermont Business Materials Exchange (VBMX)
If you are a business seeking used materials or needing to get rid of reusable surplus or discards, check out the Vermont Business Materials Exchange. It’s a free match-making service to link businesses and organizations seeking reusable materials with others that can use those materials. Visit http://www.vbmx.net/ or call 1-800-895-1930.

4. Websites offering appliance parts, and in some cases tip and repair manuals, to help you fix a broken appliance:

Partselect.com
Partstore
Point & Click Appliance Repair
RepairClinic.com

Links

EPA Reuse in New England Guide

ReDO – National Reuse Development Organization

ReCycled Office Furniture Brokers Directory

Repair Clinic.com