Finger Lakes ReUse: Tackling Waste Diversion Through Reuse

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): The roots of Finger Lakes ReUse go back to Tompkins County’s 20-year solid waste management plan that was developed in the 1990s. As one of the early leaders in New York State to invest in progressive materials management, Tompkins County began to develop compost, food waste, and reuse programs. They had included a reuse center as something that they wanted to create because they had adopted recycling and the revenues were stronger than expected, so they had an abundance of funding. As a result, they put out a call for businesses that were already involved in reuse in order to support them.

A building preservation organization called Historic Ithaca had a volunteer-run architectural salvage program that was launched in 1991. In 2001, Finger Lakes ReUse CEO Diane Cohen was hired back then as a program manager through a grant funded by Tompkins County. “I entered into this work before it was an industry, and have watched the waste reduction mindset grow, along with recognition of the value and impact of reused materials.” In 2005, Cohen said she was seeing a lot more material outgrowing the original program. “I had helped them get into an 11,000 square foot warehouse, but it was still more than they could handle. So, they said, ‘Let’s start planning to develop a reuse center’ and asked me to lead the project. For the next two and a half years, myself, Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Cornell University, Ithaca College, and Tompkins County worked together to develop our first reuse center.”

Deciding to register as a nonprofit 501C3 independent organization, this public/private partnership has been able to grow as Finger Lakes ReUse takes on the risk and the county is relieved of liability. The operation was named Finger Lakes ReUse because they envisioned becoming a regional operation within New York State. “We didn’t want to call ourselves Tompkins County ReUse because while Tompkins County wanted a reuse center, we didn’t want it to get confused with government recycling programs. Finger Lakes ReUse’s name would help distinguish that,” explains Cohen.

Planning began in December 2005 and Finger Lakes ReUse opened its doors to its first Community ReUse Center in a strip mall in November 2008 starting in 7,000 square foot space and immediately expanded, in April 2010 doubling in size into the empty storefront next door, now totaling 13,000 square feet.

They doubled in size in 2015 and opened a second 17,000 square foot Ithaca ReUse Center five miles away. They expanded again in April 2020, adding an additional 17,000 square feet in the original location—right at the beginning of COVID. Cohen explains, “We took over a hardware store that had closed and left much of their inventory on the shelves, so we negotiated with the mall owners to sell the inventory in exchange for rent and offered them a portion of the proceeds. They agreed and the now 30,000 square foot ‘ReUse MegaCenter’ was off and running.”

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantagemag.com