News

We are excited to be partnering with Rethos: Places Reimagined to host a Minnesota GreenCorps member this year! If you or someone you know wants to spend a year of service addressing critical environmental issues and gaining valuable experience and job skills, we encourage you to apply! Rethos will serve as the host site for our GreenCorps member, but you will get to work with the incredible folks at both Reuse Minnesota and Rethos.

The focus of our GreenCorps member will be to: engage and educate Minnesota communities, organizations, and individuals in the practices of preservation and reuse through outreach, storytelling, and media. The member will work to:

• Create and promote a toolkit and guidelines for executing a community materials salvage project
• Participate as a planning team member for the annual Buildings on Main Street Conference and the Reuse Minnesota Conference
• Create homeowner class packages on home repair and maintenance, reuse and salvage, and energy efficiency that can be used by different communities for onsite learning
• Conduct a survey of Reuse Minnesota members and create storytelling tools to creatively share the environmental, economic, and social benefits of reuse organizations in Minnesota

Minnesota GreenCorps is a statewide AmeriCorps program coordinated by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The MPCA is recruiting 48 full-time members to serve for 11 months, from September 2022 to August 2023.

Learn more at: https://www.pca.state.mn.us/mngreencorps/program-information and apply by June 16.

Hennepin County is in the process of developing a Zero-Waste Plan. Once adopted, the operational plan will map Hennepin County to a zero-waste future where 90% or more of the County’s discarded materials are diverted from disposal in landfills, incinerators, and the environment.

The county is committed to conducting an inclusive, collaborative, and transparent stakeholder process during which both experts and concerned residents can come together to provide input on what is needed to realize a zero-waste future. If you live or work in Hennepin County, your feedback is requested. The listening session seeks your input on the following topics:

• Major obstacles to reaching zero waste
• Identification of gaps that the county’s zero-waste approach will need to fill
• Opportunities for Hennepin County, cities, residents, and businesses to transition to a zero-waste future in a manner that advances racial equity and mitigates unintended negative consequences

Please sign up for one of two targeted listening sessions:
1. Contractor, architect, or building material reuse reseller - May 4 from 1-2:30pm
2. Reuse or repair retailer or advocate - May 6 from 1-2:30pm

If you are a contractor, architect, or building material reuse reseller:

Your participation is needed in this 90-minute targeted stakeholder meeting on May 4 from 1:00-2:30 pm.

Please click on the link below to register for the construction and demolition and building material reuse industry stakeholder meeting:

https://recycle.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqc--qqzMuHNbmUb-jZhY9vZUDzodRIN1o

If you have questions about the stakeholder meetings, the zero-waste planning process, or if you cannot participate in the meeting but would still like to share input, please contact Carolyn Collopy at Carolyn.Collopy@hennepin.us.  

If you are a reuse or repair retailer or advocate:

Hennepin County is seeking your participation in a 90-minute targeted stakeholder meeting on May 6 from 1:00-2:30 pm. 

Please click on the link below to register for the reuse and repair industry stakeholder meeting:

https://recycle.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApf--rqj0sE9wmNuMsXYJz3Gra94ACzFsy

If you have questions about the stakeholder meetings, the zero-waste planning process, or if you cannot participate in the meeting but would still like to share input, please contact Ben Knudson at Ben.Knudson@hennepin.us.  

Congratulations to Reuse Minnesota member, Tech Dump for winning the Twin Cities Business Magazine 2022 Community Impact Award!! They are being recognized as a nonprofit making a significant difference in the state of Minnesota, for their leadership in the responsible recycling of electronics, as well as providing jobs and training for adults experiencing barriers to employment. We congratulate Tech Dump and the other award nominees on a job well done!

More about Tech Dump and each of the award recipients can be found in the print and digital April/May editions of Twin Cities Business --> https://tcbmag.com/

2022 Community Impact Award winners will be celebrated at an event on May 25 at the Metropolitan Ballroom. To purchase tickets --> https://tcbmag.com/events/cia22/

Read more about what the award means to Tech Dump --> https://www.techdump.org/tech-dump-wins-community-impact.../

Overview

Reuse Minnesota is seeking an individual or firm that is well-versed in concepts and use of life cycle analysis and datasets to provide and execute a methodology/tool(s) for measuring the statewide impacts of reuse activities. The tool(s) will be used to document the benefits of the products and services provided by reuse businesses and organizations in Minnesota. At the conclusion of this contract, a formal report will summarize the findings and provide a detailed methodology for the approaches used to measure these impacts. 

Funding for this project is from the State of Minnesota’s Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF). 

Proposal submittal 

Proposals should include a detailed budget, desired payment schedule, and names and qualifications of key individuals involved with the project. 

Submit proposals to info@reusemn.org by 4:00 pm (Central) on Monday, April 4, 2022, attention to Emily Barker. Please use the subject line of “Proposal: Measuring statewide impacts of reuse.”

See full RFP details here.

Scrapbox Salvage Co., a reuse building materials store, has announced its grand opening on March 1, 2022. Located in Minneapolis, the store is committed to offering a zero-waste solution for the Twin Cities’ deconstruction projects while giving people a chance to repurpose building materials in their construction or remodeling projects. To kick off its opening, Scrapbox Salvage Co. will welcome guests into the store for its official grand opening week from March 1-7 and host a customer appreciation week March 8-14.

Scrapbox Salvage Co. partners with the Birch Group, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit development and deconstruction salvage company. The Birch Group team reclaims and harvests everything from lights, flooring, windows, doors and more in their deconstruction projects around the Twin Cities and then offers them for sale at Scrapbox Salvage Co. The Birch Group joined as a Reuse Minnesota member in January 2022.

Scrapbox Salvage Co. has drop-off and pick-up services for those interested in donating items in addition to its deconstruction services offered through the Birch Group.

The City of Columbia Heights, MN is seeking citywide residential refuse service bids for four major curbside operations: household trash, single-sort recycling, compost (yard waste & organics), and bulk (or junk) removal services. There is also a RFP for cart handling (household delivery/removals) services. Respondents can bid on one or all of the services. Please email Publicworks@columbiaheightsmn.gov for more information. RFPs will be accepted through April.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is accepting applications from organizations interested in hosting a Minnesota GreenCorps member for the 2022-2023 program year. Members serve at organizations throughout the state, completing community-focused environmental projects while gaining experience and learning valuable job skills.

The MPCA plans to place up to 46 full-time members with host site organizations. Host sites provide day-to-day supervision and support members on community-focused projects in one of the following four focus areas: air pollutant reduction, community readiness and outreach, green infrastructure improvements and forestry, or waste reduction, recycling, and organics management.

Applications are due by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. For more information and to apply, visit www.pca.state.mn.us/mngreencorps. Please direct questions to mngreencorps.pca@state.mn.us.

We are excited to announce the launch of our newly designed website!

Our website features easy to find information, making it simpler to navigate to answers to all your reuse questions. Reuse Minnesota members can collaborate and connect with other members through a professional forum, and share ideas and network. Our reuse library has tools and guides to help you wherever you are on your reuse path. We invite you to explore all our website has to offer!

We recently made a slight change to our logo. By changing the capitalization in our name, our logo has a more streamlined appearance, and helps minimize the confusion with other similarly sounding reuse organizations. ReUSE Minnesota will now be referred to as Reuse Minnesota, while our logo will have an all capitals look.

Reuse Minnesota is in the news! Minnesota Monthly wrote an article highlighting several reuse businesses  and interviewed Reuse Minnesota executive director Emily Barker. Read the article here!