I felt like a kid in a candy shop as I was being led through the building where a small group of people collaborated to educate teachers and children about the good earth, recycling, and composting. They were also collecting used books, materials, and office & school supplies to provide free resources to teachers for their underprivileged students. I had been introduced to Kay McKeen, SCARCE, Inc. founder and president, through a mutual LinkedIn connection, while attempting to find interested parties who might find a need for our decal production scrap.
SCARCE, Inc. (Schools and Community Assistance in Recycling and Composting Education), as posted on its website, www.scarceecoed.org is an organization that cares… “SCARCE inspires people, through education, to preserve & care for the Earth's natural resources, while working to build sustainable communities.” I had been so excited to “linkin” with Kay as I had aspired to find a good use for our end-of-the-roll/off-cut scrap vinyl. Unable to locate a way to recycle these rolls of vinyl, I had sent her some in hopes that the decal scrap could be beneficial and not end up in the dumpster. Kay later reported that teachers had taken everything I had sent. Today we had driven two and a half hours to visit SCARCE, located in DuPage County, to see the employees in action and determine what else we might avert from the landfill to the shelves of SCARCE. I did NOT want to send anything that they then would consider trash and then be responsible for the disposal. I could clearly see “trash” was not in their vocabulary!
