ReCycle North, was founded in 1991 to address two priority issues--waste management and homelessness. Its mission is to reduce the amount of reusable and repairable household items dumped in landfills and assist individuals in transition by providing work experience and occupational skill training.
ReCycle North accepts donations of used items that may or may not need repair, fixes or reconditions those that do, and then redistributes these items back into the community through its store at 266 Pine Street. Household goods such as beds, couches and tables; appliances such as refrigerators, stoves and washers; and electronics such as radios and televisions all are diverted from the waste stream and once again become valuable commodities. Each year ReCycle North donates many of the appliances and ot her vital household products it repairs to indigent families and to people with emergency needs. ReCycle North works closely with area non-profits and social service agencies including The Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), the Howard Center for Huma n Services, and Women Helping Battered Women.
ReCycle North trains people in transition who need job skills and the work credential that comes from the successful completion of ReCycle North's training program. ReCycle North hires and trains people who employers often would not consider for employme nt. Trainees are challenged in the program and given new skills in appliance and electronics repair and customer service. Trainees gain a new sense of pride and accomplishment through their work and build a new life upon this achievement.(ReCycle North gets much of its funding from store sales but depends on cash and in-kind donations to support its work.)
ReCycle North's mission is to (1) reduce the amount of reusable and repairable household items dumped in landfills and (2) alleviate the effects of poverty by making vital household goods available to the poor and by giving recently homeless and other people in transition valuable job skills and training and a second opportunity at life. ReCycle North achieves these goals by: keeping its reuse operations self-financed through store sales and the delivery of excellent customer service; maintaining a clean, safe work environment that promotes staff growth; collaborating with other community organizations and serving as a community resource; and by cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit that will allow it to grow to meet evolving challenges.