Buffalo ReUse Blog » Green Collar Jobs

Flapjacks for MAP April 9

Buffalo ReUse Staff — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:58:18 +0000

An all you can eat pancake extravaganza to benefit the Growing Green Urban Youth Farm!

Saturday April 9th, 2011
at Trinity Church – 371 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo NY

Just pick a time -
8:30 am
10 am
and
11:30 am

and follow this link to purchase tickets-
Link to MAP website

Vote for PUSH!

Kevin Hayes — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:50:38 +0000

Our friends at PUSH (People United for Sustainable Housing), the wonderful group developing a green zone on the West Side, are finalists in Changemakers competition for an award for sustainable urban housing. Go here to vote – you have to register first but it’s not a big deal:

www.changemakers.com/en-us/sustainableurbanhousing

PUSH’s project is the only one in the running (ten finalists) that’s not in the developing world. Ah, Buffalo – our little bit of the developing world, so close to home!

Medaille Leadership Discussion Next Wednesday March 30

admin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:53:41 +0000

Next Wednesday, March 30, at 6pm, Buffalo ReUse will be part of a discussion at Medaille College about “Leadership in WNY”.

Some points of discussion:

What goals for community improvement do you and your organization(s) work to achieve? How do these help contribute to building a civic and sustainable future for Buffalo and the region?
Why do you work toward these goals? What is it about Buffalo’s history that makes these goals important? What is it about Buffalo’s history that makes these goals achievable?
What perceptions of (or stories about) Buffalo and the region can sometimes be obstacles or barriers to reaching these goals?
What opportunities and conditions exist to help you and your organization(s) realize these goals?
Why should students learn to “read” and “engage” in writing the story of their community? What can they do to contribute to the long, hard work of building civic and sustainable communities? In what ways is personal success only meaningful in the context of community?
What are the personal challenges and rewards of actively engaging in your community and working to make it a better place?

Medaille Website

MAP’s Urban Agriculture Training – Coming Real Soon Now!

Buffalo ReUse Staff — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 22:42:12 +0000

Are you looking for an opportunity to grow your community garden, add a component to your neighborhood project, strengthen your youth program or neighborhood outreach efforts, learn strategies to address policy challenges, market your city farm project or create value added products? Then join us in Buffalo, NY:

March 11-13, 2011

for the Growing Green Spring Urban Agriculture Training!

Registration page is here.

The Massachusetts Avenue Project’s Urban Agriculture Training features many practical, philosophical, and experiential opportunities to learn from MAP’s success with urban, youth centered agriculture.

In addition to witnessing the components of a functional urban farm first hand, such as urban fish farming, composting, and value-added food production, participants will be able to engage and observe many of the successful elements in MAP’s youth training program, Growing Green. Attending the training also means being able to hear from regional experts on food system planning and development, and network with other beginning or established urban farmers, with training at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Innovation Center and hands on at Growing Green’s Urban Youth Farm. Only $200, this weekend workshop includes 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, a cocktail reception, and intensive, hands-on training opportunities.

Workshops include

Moving Local Food Policy Forward with Diane Picard, MAP’s Executive Director
Introduction to Urban Agriculture with Jesse Meeder, MAP’s Farm Manager
Aquaponics with Jesse Meeder
Compost and Worms with Jesse Meeder
Urban Chickens with Jesse Meeder
Youth, Social Enterprises and the New Food System with Zoe Hollomon, MAP’s Markets Manager
Messaging for Local Food with Erin Sharkey, MAP’s Creative Director
Developing Youth-centered Programming with Erin Sharkey, MAP’s Creative Director and several youth participants from the Growing Green Program.
With a special presentation from Samina Raja, PhD- Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo entitled – Building Communities as if People Eat
Introduction to Urban Agriculture will be offered for an additional $25 on Friday March 11 from 1-5pm

Do you ReDOO?

Caesandra Seawell — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:50:59 +0000

Over the last year and a half, ReUse has participated in the discussion of diverting organic debris from the landfill. Landfills are really no place for vegetable waste and there are programs across the country which send that material to compost facilities and make much better use of it. Composting also means JOBS! Buffalonians, you need to start asking for a compost facility; we need to start moving toward a lifestyle which supports the reuse of food waste and decreases the amount of non-degradable food packaging waste.
For our part, ReUse has started composting on a small scale–(we call it ReDOO)–at least as much as our neighbors will allow at this point. If you patronize Amy’s Place or Lexington Co-op you are helping build up our community gardens by contributing to the compost pile. Please tell them thank you from us the next time you go there for a salad or an omelette! Twice a week we receive or pickup the veggie waste, eggshells and coffee grounds and add it to your leaves, lawn clippings and shredded paper. We hope to add more diners and compost heaps on various gardens throughout Buffalo over the summer.
In the meantime, take advantage of the opportunity to educate yourself a little more about the movement toward a more sustainable WNY.
Gary Feinland announces a Free EPA WEBINAR SERIES: Food Waste Reduction and Management.
Food waste is the third largest stream of waste in the U.S. after paper and yard waste. The social, economic, and environmental impacts of food waste are enormous, including increased generation of greenhouse gas, negative impacts on sanitation and health, and the loss of potential improvements in soil health and food production.

To help address these impacts, EPA Region 2 is partnering with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group at Rutgers University to offer a series of webinars designed to provide education on the best avenues and methods of food waste management.

Generators of food waste, government representatives, and public stakeholders are encouraged to participate.

February 23, 1:00 – 2:30 pm (EST)
Overview of Food Waste, Climate Change Connection, and Waste Audits

March 10, 1:00 – 2:30 pm (EST)
Separation and Collection of Food Waste

March 17, 1:00 – 2:30 pm (EST)
Waste Reduction through Reuse

March 31, 1:00 – 2:30 pm (EST)
Composting and End-of-Life Management

April 7, 1:00 – 2:30 pm (EST)
Putting the Pieces Together and EPA Tools

For registration and information please visit www.trainex.org/FoodWaste

Gary Feinland
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Bureau of Solid Waste, Reduction and Recycling
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-7253
518-402-8705
www.nyrecycles.org

From David Bennink

Kevin Hayes — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:40:09 +0000

From David Bennink, our teacher, mentor and biggest supporter:

To Buffalo Reuse -

This is a note to let you know how thankful we are for what you accomplished on the Extreme Home Makeover television show. When I say ‘we’, I mean all of us in the reusable building materials industry who can recognize the benefits to our industry of high-profile success stories such as your Powell project.

I was amazed to see how much time was dedicated to the subjects of building deconstruction, construction waste management, and building material reuse. Watching intently, I noted at least 6-10 instances where our industry had a role in the show. My trip to Buffalo to help take the house down had two purposes, to make Buffalo Reuse look good and the industry as a whole look like a viable option and we accomplished both on this show.

Finally, I am reflecting on the various communities that I visit around the Country, and it makes me want to thank the great people of Buffalo. Yes, the ‘great’ people. I was amazed at the sea of blue shirts I saw at this site and how they out-numbered previous sites.

Today, people across the Buffalo area have a reason to feel sorry for those in ‘better’ areas of the Country as I believe that strife builds character and you folks have plenty of both. It could be said that those who live with an abundance are not given the chance to overcome challenges and to grow from that.

So thanks again to Buffalo Reuse for setting the standard for Extreme Home Makeover on responsible building removal and to the great people of Buffalo for setting the standard on giving of themselves and overcoming adversity.

Dave Bennink
RE-USE Consulting
360-201-6977
www.reuseconsulting.com
www.bmra.org
National Building Deconstructor of the Year – 2009

Viewing Party ABC EM:HE Buffalo Episode

Caesandra Seawell — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:51:40 +0000

A big thanks to Shea’s Buffalo for being the venue, Join us, JANUARY 24th, 2010!
You were there when the Hero Family was announced, You were there when Buffalo ReUse performed the Green Demolition, You were there when volunteers from PUSH and Re-Tree WNY built the community gardens, You were there when Americorps and others descended on the block and over 70 houses in the neighborhood got a facelift, You were there when David Homes built the brand new house!…Now you can be there as all of Buffalo celebrates the national spotlight! On behalf of PUSH Buffalo, Buffalo ReUse, Re-Tree WNY, and WNY Americorps, as well as The Powell Family–we hope you will join us all.

Doors open at 7pm Folks can meet The Powell Family, mingle, and learn about the ways they can volunteer and contribute to future neighborhood improvements. Channel 7 (WKBW) will feature a documentary of behind-the-scenes footage of the 106 hours of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition while the cast, volunteers, and neighborhood worked around the clock. Finally, from 8-10pm ABC will broadcast the Special Buffalo Episode and we’ll all watch together as the story unfolds.

We hope that everyone will come and celebrate the national spotlight on Buffalo and the neighborhood revitalization igniting across The Queen City!

TICKETS: Tickets will be available on Friday, January 15th. All tickets will be distributed in advance of the evening’s events. Tickets to be obtained from Shea’s Box Office. Tickets are complimentary, limit of 2 per person. No tickets at the door, unless they are still available.

The Shea’s Box Office is located at 650 Main Street and is open M-F 10 a – 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 am– 2 pm Event Parking is available on Pearl Street, Washington St. etc.

**This event is on FACEBOOK. Please, invite all your friends!!

$crap Metal Donation$

Ian MacDonald — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:45:32 +0000

Do you have a box of inch-long remnants of copper pipe from that kitchen remodel back in 1970? How about a couple of bent and burnt aluminum pots that just couldn’t cook one more can of cream of mushroom soup? Or how about one of my favorites; an old tire rim cut and bent into the shape of a flower? I believe the artists intentions were good but I always thought they looked like Audrey II or a body snatcher pod (If you don’t understand these references Google “little shop of Horrors” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and then see the original versions). If your basement is choked with stuff like this but your conscience tells you metal is easily recycled but you know it will cost you more in gas than the money you’d make at the scrap yard. Here is a solution that is good for your basement, the earth, and your conscience; consider donating you scrap metal to Buffalo ReUse to support:

Employment and training for young people
Commerce in the City of Buffalo
Preservation of Buffalo’s heritage of materials and craftsmanship
Diverting “waste” from dead-ending in landfills?

Seriously though, those few old bits of metal might not seem significant, however scrap metal is very useful for us as it provides a very quick and direct way to help fund our day to day operations. At about 75 cents per pound for ferrous metals (irons and steels) and about 3 dollars per pound for cuprous metals (copper, brass, bronze) it isn’t worth the average person gas and driving to recycle a few old coat hangers or faucet knobs. However at the Buffalo ReUse these small amounts of metal accumulate from many different sources and add up quickly. A truck load of metal might pay for a few days worth of diesel, or pay to repair an (all too common) engine problem, buy boxes of gloves, puncture protectors and goggles for the crew, etc…

Environmentally recycled metal is an excellent way to be greener. A piece of metal thrown away is a piece of metal that has to be replaced with new metal. The amount of energy needed to recycle metal into useful products is estimated to be nearly 1/3 of the energy to obtain it from raw materials. Metals also often require that tons of rock be mined to produce pounds of metal. The environmental costs of mining are very high, leaving enormous scars on the earth and badly poisoned waters and lands.

Of course, if you bring in interesting or useful metal items that can be re-sold we would not scrap them. Useful items can be re-sold in the store (Environmentally even better than metal recycling) or used to run our operations. And just like item donations, we will provide you with a tax donation form. We ask that you not bring refrigerators, propane cylinders, gas cans, entire cars or trucks, items that are less than 50% metal, or contain mercury (switches and controls). For very large loads we can pick it up with our truck by appointment. Items should be readily accessible at ground level. In any case call ahead to discuss your specific situation and see if we can use your metal.

So if you have a set of porch railings that were bent into a pretzel when junior backed into it 1978 while learning to drive, consider the Buffalo ReUse before you put it at the curb. It will help our cause immensely.

Scrap Dishwasher

Kevin Hayes — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:41:11 +0000

Seen on my way from the West Side to the East Side.

Not our truck, but I’m very impressed with the load. Not the quality of product, which is marginal scrap, but the tie-downs.

2 Americorps Job Openings

Caesandra Seawell — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:36:54 +0000

You may already know that Buffalo ReUse has enjoyed working with Americorps WNY’s ABLE Program and Americorps Recovery for this last year. We already miss Matt & Micki. We know that Rachel and Ben will be leaving later in 2010. Much of what our Community Programs have accomplished would not be possible without their hard work. Buffalo ReUse is looking for 2 more VERY MOTIVATED folks with a heart for the community. We’re now accepting packets for a ReSource Educator and a Green Space Coordinator under Americorps WNY’s Service Corp Program. This means you get paid by Americorps (which is like the Peace Corps except you stay local) via a stipend for one year; there is also an award to pay down your student loans once you complete your service.

Both positions are full-time and hard work. Both positions focus on rebuilding sustainable neighborhoods and both report to the Director of Community Programs. Together, they represent a renewed commitment to providing information and access to resources and an improved quality of life for our neighbors.
Share this opportunity with folks you’d highly recommend. We need to fill these positions quickly as the start date is January. To read the full job descriptions please click on their respective link.

The ReSource Educator– a Jack/Jane of all trades with a knack for teaching

Green Space Coordinator– an urban farmer with a knack for teaching

Incomplete applications will not be considered. To all applicants, please make sure your packet details your experience in the field and that each file of your packet contains your last name. Impressive packets will receive follow up questions and a phone interview; top candidates must also have a second interview on-site and must complete an Americorps Orientation session.