Planet, People, Profit: Business As Usual

Mary Lou Van Deventer

Operations Manager

GRRN Zero-Waste Conference, Devens, MA October 2009

Planet First. Our Non-Virtual Business Prevents Landfilling.

• We salvage at the City of Berkeley Solid Waste Transfer station.

• We receive discards people bring us, 360 days a year. (We buy some – rewards modify behavior.)

• We pick up unwanted things after we screen the materials on the phone.

Salvaging

Receiving

Sometimes We Buy

Rewards modify behavior.

Works like a charm.

We Pick Up

We Sell

And Sell

And Sell

And Sell

What We Can’t Sell, We Recycle

People Next - Staff• Income sharing - 9.5% of gross

income plus $15/ton salvaged and picked up, split equally among all staff according to hours worked. 2009 average incentive is $3.85 per hour.

This incentive increases teamwork and peer pressure to work hard and honestly. Stealing from the company steals from all. Working together raises everyone’s income equally.

People Next - Staff• Profit sharing 2 times yearly. • Paid vacations, liberal unpaid time off. • Fully paid health coverage for staff

and all dependents. Reimbursement of copays for doctors’ visits.

• Dental and vision coverage. • 50% discount on purchases.

People Next - Staff

Respect for physical labor and knowledge. Efficient, enriching, healthy.

People Next - Community• Liberal donations of materials and

money to environmental and social-service organizations – Earth Island, Humane Society, schools, theater groups, many others.

• Speaking and tours to classes and for community groups of all kinds.

• Free facility redesign for hometown.

People Next - Community

Public-service advertising

supports local publications while raising awareness

and the public tone.

Advertising

Environmental magazine asked us to identify this as a paid ad. Could be mistaken for their content.

People Next - Industry

• Support and work for organizations that share our views. NCRA GRRN CRRA

• Political activism fighting incinerators, landfills, land use practices that hurt recycling.

People Next - Industry Concepts that Reposition our

Industry in the Marketplace of Ideas

This is wasting language

Resource Language Empowers

DISCARDS

WASTEBurn and/or Bury RECYCLE

Who Has Power?

Nobody - waste just happens.

The chooser has power.

Who Has Responsibility?

Nobody - waste just happens.Recycling is

a miracle.

The chooser has responsibility.

Recycling isbusiness.

Income Follows, and Maybe Profit

We don’t know the upper limit. When we started, conventional wisdom was that this couldn’t be done.

Income in a Construction Cycle

Our Prosperity Builds Community Prosperity

• Purchases for resale in 2008 put $135,000 in cash and $24,400 in trade credit into the hands of regular folks.

• Sales taxes in 2008 put $193,000 into the State treasury.

• Property taxes in 2008 put $57,000 into the County treasury.

The EndThe EndThe End

900 Murray St.Berkeley, CA 94710phone 510-841-SAVE

Mary Lou Van Deventermarylouvan@urbanore.us

510-914-2701