Urban Ore
900 Murray Street, Berkeley , California, United States

In 1976 the City of Berkeley’s Solid Waste Management Plan called for salvaging for reuse at the City-owned landfill.  About 400 self-haul vehicles per day dumped loads rich in reusables.  A nonprofit organization tried to salvage but failed.  In 1980 Urban Ore rose from its ashes and started recovering and trading resources as a scavenger organization. Its only assets were permission to exist and a place to put things down.  It had no capital, no equipment, no shelter, and it paid no rent, building its cash flow from the reusable goods and scrap metals it could divert from or rescue from the tipping face.  It moved its operation as the tipping face changed.  Its suppliers and retail customers were people who had already paid to waste.  Wages were very low at first, about $4.00 per hour.  No sales meant no wages. 

Mission Statement :

Urban Ore’s purpose was set in the 1990s by founder Dan Knapp and Board members Mary Lou Van Deventer and Michael Casady. That purpose, To End The Age of Waste, is now printed on every receipt that Urban Ore writes for its thousands of customers to carry home with them. The board’s intention was to set a high performance standard and lofty goal to carry the company into the future.