Hi All. I just got my latest catalog from Minnesota Materials Exchange and thought I'd share some info. This is a free service that lists waste products or items that businesses or organizations want to get rid of. The object of the game is to keep this stuff out of the waste stream by (usually) giving it away (sometimes the suppliers charge a fee) to someone who can use it. There are many pages of listings, but here are a few examples of items to be given away; chairs, computers, multi-line telephones, 3-ring binders,cardboard tubes, plastic livestock flooring, horse manure, nylon rope, paint, shredded paper, conveyor belting, fiberglass rolls, cloth diapers, sheep hides, bags - plastic or burlap, bubble wrap, buckets, drums - fiber, metal, or plastic, pallets, oak moldings, sawdust, slabwood, and many, many more.

We have a 275 gallon plastic water tank enclosed in a heavy wire cage that we got free from them. Also a huge sheet of clear plastic and some plywood and probably other things I can't remember now.

Many states have programs like this! These I know for sure: New York, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. Probably others, too.

Minnesota's website is www.mnexchange.org. Follow the links to your state. Or email the MN people to ask about your state.

The goal is good and the price is right! Sandy Stone

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Answers

Washington State has one. I used to read their hard copy catalog and I think there's one online. The stuff they had wasn't anything that I could use at the time, so I forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder.

We also have recycling stations around here (there's one in Everett, for example) where you can get free recycled paint. I got 90 gallons of outside latex paint for FREE last year (I ended up taking it back...long story!) But there's free solvents and stuff too.

Thanks again!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Thanks. I already found a source for free windows for the greenhouse in Nashville.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Hey! I used to get this catalog several years ago but it stopped coming in the mail and I thought they had gone out of business. It's good to see they're still out there providing this service for people. I made good use of some patio door glass that I had found through them.

Thanks for posting this, Sandy! I'm sure I'll make good use of it again.

-- Anonymous, April 14, 2001