While Seattle set a city record in 2008 with its milestone 50-percent recycling rate, local non-profit Eco Encore is one example that recycling encompasses more than just the paper and plastic trash we divert from landfills. Since 2002 Eco Encore has resold donated books, CDs, DVDs and software, diverting an estimated 25 tons of paper and plastic from local landfills while raising money for 14 Seattle-area environmental organizations that do good for the environment.
“There’s a large amount of energy that goes into recycling something,” said Matt Aspin, president of the Eco Encore board of directors. “Repurposing allows for a whole other economic cycle, or two, or three. It’s also far less resource-intensive to cycle something through the marketplace than to actually break it down into its components.”
According to the Green Press Initiative, the United States book publishing industry alone uses 30 million trees each year. Eco Encore reduces demand for the resource- and energy-intensive production of new books and disc media by keeping existing media in use long after the original owner is done with them. One of the things that makes Eco Encore different from other media resellers is that the profits from Eco Encore sales are distributed among 14 Pacific Northwest environmental organizations, including Futurewise and the Washington Trails Association.
"It’s a very efficient way to do the right thing,” said Aspin. “It’s an elegant solution to an opportunity to do something better.”
