Finding markets for recylables

GORDON DANIELS John Majercak, store director and Holly Milton-Benoit, store manager, check new plumbing items received at ReStore, the used home furnishings shop that the Center for Ecological Technology opened in Springfield last year. By selling such materials at a discount, CET hopes to reduce the stream of waste headed to landfills.

"We also sell this paper directly to a number of places here in western Massachusetts," says Co-director Alan Silverstein. "The goal is to stimulate the market [for recyclables] by putting material in play - the more commonplace recycled materials become, the more affordable they become and the greater the demand is for them."

About 67 percent of the group's $1 million budget comes from fees paid by utility companies for energy-efficiency audits for homeowners and businesses, and about 24 percent comes from government and foundation grants and state contracts. Much of the latter funding, says Co-director Laura Dubester, underwrites new projects that CET is expected to set up and have running independently within a few years, though the group continues to touch base with participants and provide assistance as needed.

The current "organic recycling" program in Northampton, for example, was funded through a grant to CET and Northampton from 1996 to 2000 but now runs on its own, says John Majercak, the project head. In addition, the Springfield-based ReStore, opened with grant funding, is expected to be self-supporting by next year. "And I'm confident we'll get there," he adds.

Karen Bouquillon, the Northampton waste management coordinator, says CET's status as a nonprofit means "they have to be on the edge of innovation to attract grant funding. But they've been very successful at that because they're good at defining what the next goal should be - they show us where we need to go."

Dubester says CET in many cases is "working with businesses that have a bottom line. We have to show that what we're proposing can be a win-win situation. That's what John had to do to the supermarkets and restaurants and waste haulers to get the organic recycling program going."

CET has extensive information available for homeowners, schools and businesses on making ecologically responsible choices, from what to do with used batteries to how to compost. The groups can be contacted on the Web or by telephone in Northampton at 586-7350 or Pittsfield at 445-4556. The ReStore can be reached at 788-6900.

Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com

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Used with permission by Gazettenet.com