The salvage centre located at the Foothills Regional Landfill is an amazing example of how it’s possible to create something from nothing.
The concept is beautiful in its simplicity. If you have something that you don’t want anymore but someone else might like it then you can take it to the salvage centre instead of the landfill.
We have all had this dilemma after cleaning out the basement, storage room or garage. You are faced with the decision of what to do with all of that usable stuff that your children have outgrown or that you have simply lost interest in.
You can feel good about taking those unwanted items to the salvage centre instead of feeling guilty about dumping it in the landfill.
The donated items are sold at the salvage centre at a fraction of the retail price.
Some of the money from the sale of the donated items pays for expenses such as heat, power and wages to keep the centre operational.
The rest of the money is donated to local charities.
In the past 12 months the Foothills Salvage and Recycling Society that runs the salvage centre has donated $148,123.50 to local charities!
When I first started volunteering with the Foothills Salvage and Recycling Society Board of Directors about two years ago I was blown away by the amount of funds being directed to local charities.
Another cool thing about the salvage centre is that it started as an entirely volunteer powered organization.
As the operation grew over time, it made sense to operate with paid employees but volunteers are still a big part of the success. The volunteer’s hours that are spent working at the salvage centre are paid out to the charity of his or her choice.
Before the salvage centre came to be, many of those unwanted but usable items wound up buried in the landfill. Now, those items are reused by a new owner, local employment opportunities have been created and revenue from the Centre has become a major funding source for local charities.
For me, the salvage centre is proof that a dedicated group of people with a common goal can achieve almost anything. Even turning waste into jobs and money for charity.
