SVdP marks Earth Day with BRING Recycling partnership, warehouse tour
Every day is Earth Day for the nonprofit St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County (SVdP), a pioneer of waste-based enterprise that is responsible for keeping hundreds of millions of pounds of material out of landfills every year.
Even so, SVdP held two events to coincide with the formally recognized Earth Day on Monday, April 22. For one, SVdP teamed up with BRING Recycling, a fellow reuse-oriented nonprofit based in Eugene, for a joint donation-dropoff event on April 21-22.
Area residents enjoyed the convenience of being able to drop off reusable building materials for resale by BRING just as they donate other items to SVdP. And on April 22, SVdP hosted a guided tour of its Chad Drive warehouse operation — offering a behind-the-scenes look at many of its recycling, upcycling and reuse efforts.
APRIL 21-22: SVdP/BRING Recyling donation-dropoff event.
This Earth Day, BRING Recycling and SVdP of Lane County teamed up to make it easier than ever for residents to donate reusable building materials and housewares during a one-stop donation-dropoff collection event. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday and Monday, April 21-22, a BRING truck was onsite at SVdP’s 2890 Chad Drive location in North Eugene to collect doors, windows, cabinets, lumber, tile, molding, fixtures, garden supplies and more.
BRING accepts many building, remodeling, landscaping and hardscaping materials for resale that SVdP normally does not, so this partnership allowed donors to combine multiple drop-off trips into one.
APRIL 22: Earth Day tour of SVdP’s Chad Drive warehouse
In addition to donation drop-off opportunities with BRING, members of the general public were invited to attend an April 22 guided tour of the Chad Drive warehouse, starting at 3:30 p.m., and learn more about SVdP’s efforts to promote sustainability and reuse.
Staff offered an up-close look at some of the organization’s materials sorting, recycling and distribution systems that all contribute to sustainable revenue generation for the nonprofit’s human-services programs.
2023 SVdP recycling impacts, by the numbers
Some highlights of SVdP’s considerable waste-reducing impacts in calendar year 2023:
· 22.7 million pounds of materials recycled, including wood, metal, textiles, electronics, books and more (27.9 million pounds with local commingled recycling included).
· 132,843 pounds, or 66 tons, of expanded polystyrene blocks (aka Styrofoam) recycled; SVdP provides one of the only options in Lane County for residents to recycle this nonbiodegradable material in an environmentally responsible way.
· 402,188 mattresses and box springs recycled; SVdP is the nation’s oldest and largest mattress recycler, with one facility in Oregon and three in California (operating in that state as DR3 Recycling, a wholly owned subsidiary).
· More than 4 million pounds of quality, surplus/salvage consumer goods diverted from landfills, received for resale via 127 semi-truck shipments from multiple national retailers. SVdP provides nationwide logistics services to help retailers dispose of customer returns, floor models, etc. in a more environmentally responsible way.
· Hundreds of millions of pounds of reusable items — far too many to measure — donated by community members and resold. SVdP’s donation centers are the heart of its reuse-based enterprises and generate the lifeblood of revenue to support its programs, while keeping untold tons of materials out of area landfills every year.