Materials Exchange FAQ
What is a Materials Exchange?
A “materials exchange” is a service that facilitates the transaction and redistribution of unwanted, yet perfectly usable, materials and equipment from one entity to another. The entities that benefit from either side of this service (as donors, sellers, recipients, or buyers) can be businesses, nonprofits, schools, community groups, and individuals.
Some material exchanges maintain physical space (a reuse center), and others act as an online service (a virtual exchange). Reuse centers generally maintain both warehouses and trucks. They take possession of the donated materials and make them available for redistribution or sale. Virtual exchanges do not have physical space or trucks, but instead allow users to post listings of materials available and wanted (for free or at low cost) on an online materials exchange website. Staff will help facilitate the exchange of these materials without ever taking possession of the materials.
Are all materials exchanges focused on reuse and reducing waste?
No. In fact, the core missions of many materials exchanges have little to do with their resulting environmental benefits. In some cases, the materials exchange can help these organizations with their social missions; such as feeding the homeless, providing essential supplies to poor mothers, providing books to school children, and resources to nonprofit arts organizations. And other cases these operations serve as a source of revenue to fund other social service operations, such as a thrift store whose profits support to people living with AIDS, and bridal shop that provides funds for a charter school.
What are the benefits of using a materials exchange?
By using a materials exchange service, you can:
- find markets for your surplus materials
- receive low or no-cost materials
- reduce disposal and purchase costs
- reduce waste and save landfill space
- enhance the environmental image of your company
- support nonprofit organizations through in-kind support
What lasting impacts do materials exchanges have on society?
The recovery and redistribution of unwanted, yet perfectly usable materials (i.e. reuse) is an environmentally and economically sound alternative to discarding items as trash. In contrast to recycling, which processes discards to extract components for the manufacture of a new product, reuse preserves a material’s resources, including the value of the materials, labor, technology, and energy incorporated in them.
By taking useful products and exchanging them, without reprocessing, Materials Exchanges help save time, money, energy and resources. In broader economic terms, reuse offers quality products to people and organizations with limited means, while generating jobs and business activity that contribute to the economy.
Regardless of your business or need, reuse is a great way of lowering your costs either through the purchase of materials or in their disposal, and of course, contributing to a cleaner environment and less wasteful society.
Materials Exchanges operating successfully throughout the USA and abroad have diverted thousands of tons of material once destined for landfills. These services provide savings to companies in terms of disposal and material costs. Many companies spend a significant percentage of their budgets on waste disposal and raw materials. Many of these costs can be reduced through exchanging materials; turning what was once a significant drain on financial resources into profit!