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!
I could write a book about what I saw that day but I will just share a handful of my takeaways. On that day:
I saw a quiet classrooms filled with wall hangings, pictures and mobiles that, without words, said so much (a wire fish filled with cans and bottles created an image of river pollution in my mind). In just a short time, a group of girl scouts would be coming to this very room to learn about composting and preserving our environment.
There were shelves and shelves of textbooks ready to be taken by eager teachers to their students.
Two men were peeling wrappers off broken crayons. Restaurants collected broken and abandoned crayons that had been left behind after patrons had finished their dinner. These crayons would be melted down to shapes that would be easy to hold and grip by those whose challenges would not allow them to use the usual skinny crayon. Any unbroken crayons were sharpened and assembled into an 8 pack of colors that were placed in empty Altoid tins.
I heard stories of women, in faraway countries, that had to make clothes and sell them in order to pay for their daughter’s schooling. In those same countries, boys went to school for free. Buttons, zippers and sewing machines were being collected at SCARCE, to be sent to help these hopeful mothers that just want more for their daughters.
As I said goodbye to Kay, I wished that I lived closer to be able to volunteer to be a part of this special group. What an amazing mission.
I encourage you to visit their website at www.scareecoed.org and explore what’s happening at SCARCE, Inc. Their work is far reaching, from the nearby students of DuPage County to the Indian Reservation schools in South Dakota to mothers and daughters in faraway countries. It will amaze you to learn what one dedicated group can accomplish. It is simply inspiring.
If you are interested in learning about the uses and availability of [Muir] industrial graphics production scrap, please visit our upcycle best practice and contact me at becky@muirgraphics.com.
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