Reusable Resources

All over the world waste is produced everyday whether it is food waste or material waste.  When waste is accumulated it actually can become harmful to the environment.  Trash can harm the environment in several different ways starting with it leaking into the ground affecting the soil and water, to endangering the marine life.

We know that the number one importer of trash in the United States is Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvania accumulates nearly 10 million tons of trash a year.  Now, several organizations have started coming up with ideas on how to reduce the waste that is being produced. By doing so many of these organizations are using the waste as resources by focusing on recycling the products that are not being used and they planned on getting rid of.

One example of waste being used as a resource comes from a company called Brother’s Brother.  They collect supplies such as medicine, books, and medical machines.  They then take the supplies that they have gathered and distribute it over 100 different countries. The other countries get useful resources while we get rid of things that would have just been trash so it’s a win-win!

Like Brother’s Brother, a nonprofit group in Pittsburgh called Global Links recovers supplies from hospitals.  Global Links then sends the supplies collected to nonprofit partners in the Caribbean and Latin America.  They receive the health conditions of the public to ensure that products will be sent to them.

The Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse takes donations of products that others can come in and purchase for low prices and they also offer affordable art materials.  An organization known as Steel City Soil takes food waste and turns it into rich compost which they then sell.  Pennsylvania Resource Council redirects food waste from landfills and turns it into nutrients for farms. This allows the farmers to utilize their soil and to generate additions gross income.

There’s also a Pittsburgh based organization who will make fabric out of plastic bottles known as Thread.  The fabric that is made is then sold to manufacturers.  So far Thread has used over one million pounds of waste by turning it into a raw material.

In the United States about 40% of our food goes to waste, but then in other places around the world people go without food.  412 Food Rescue redirects viable food from places such as wholefood sales, farms, restaurants, and retailers.  The food that is collected is then directed to those who are food insecure.

These are just a few of the organizations in Pittsburgh that help take waste and turn it into a resource, whether it is for the ones around us or the ones overseas. By reusing waste, the amount of waste that would just be sitting causing the environment harm is going down. Even though the environment is still affected by the waste being produced, organization all over the world are finding ways to utilize it.  By making waste into a resource we are one step closer to making the planet just a little better.

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