Greater Columbus News

Waste not want not…

My Mom used to say “waste not want not” routinely in our household when I was growing up and so when I saw an organization called The Waste Not Center (The WNC), my curiosity was peaked.  Apparently Central Ohio is home to this great non-profit organization dedicated to helping our teachers, artists and other non-profit organizations re-use items that would otherwise make hearty filler for eternity in our land fills. The center is aptly named the Waste Not Center, as they proficiently explain on their website, because “they accomplish the dual objectives of enabling teachers to obtain materials for their work that would otherwise be unaffordable or unobtainable and reduce the burden on local solid waste disposal systems.” All donations are tax deductible and members simply pay a small annual fee in order to utilize the services of the WNC with no per item fees. This is a win win for both the recipients of the ‘goods’ and also for those of us who may have loads of stuff to re-home!

Typical items include but are not limited to the following: paper, paint, brushes, fabric, vases, books, videos, containers, office material of all sorts and the list goes on and on. This is not a flash in the pan small non-profit organization either. They report an average of 30-40 clients daily who select approximately 1500 pounds of materials from the center. *Wow* The estimated commercial cost of the items dolled out to members weekly is about $4500…..that’s about $250,000 annually of donated materials to our teachers and other worthy members of the WNC. I’m impressed!

The WNC facility is located at 2830 B Fisher Rd. on the West side of Columbus. Call direct to join the WNC, ask questions or make donation arrangements should you be taking advantage of this season of organization and you find items worthy of donation: 614-278-9445.

I’m off to clean my house now. I’m sure I have plenty of stuff the WNC could find a good use for in lieu of a forgotten box in a dark corner of my basement. Do you have anything to donate?