The St. Louis – Jefferson Solid Waste Management District is a regional agency that was created in 1993 to assist the public, private and nonprofit sectors in establishing and expanding waste reduction and recycling. The District includes the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Jefferson County and St. Charles County. These programs and services are funded in part by the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. For more information, please visit www.swmd.net or call 314-645-6753.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECYCLING INFORMATION
- City of St. Louis – www.stlouis-mo.gov/government (Departments & Agencies, click Recycling)
- Jefferson County – www.jeffcomo.org (Services, click Recycling)
- St. Louis County – http://www.stlouisco.com/HealthandWellness/RecyclingandWasteManagement
- St. Charles County – http://www.sccmo.org/861/Recycling
Home Sweet Home Furnishes Hope
Home Sweet Home is a 501(c)(3) organization connecting non-profit partners in the St. Louis region with donated furniture and household items. Clients from partner organizations transitioning to new living situations receive assistance with much-needed furnishings and basics, providing a sense of ownership and a source of stability at crucial times of need.
The mission of Home Sweet Home is to give families a sense of pride and to improve the quality of their lives by providing basic household furnishings. In doing so, Home Sweet Home kept 276 tons of usable furniture and household goods out of landfills and put them to reuse in 2019.
How The Process Works
Home Sweet Home serves clients who are referred by partner non-profits throughout the St. Louis region. These people are working with case managers for different, very serious reasons and they come from a variety of backgrounds. The services of Home Sweet Home are needed most by children, survivors of domestic abuse, veterans, people experiencing homelessness, the seriously ill, and ex-offenders looking for a new start.
Clients who have been referred then have scheduled “shopping” appointments during which they come to the Home Sweet Home warehouse to select the furniture they want and need from items that have been donated by the community. Volunteers have ensured all items are clean and in good working order, and clients are assisted during the shopping experience to ensure they get the basics they need to create a working home. Volunteers carefully pack the items that have been selected (including beds, couches, tables, chairs, bedding, towels, kitchen items, and more) and the items are delivered to clients’ homes that same afternoon.
Impact On The Community
Since opening in October of 2015, Home Sweet Home has served more than 1,700 families in St. Louis City and County. Furniture contributes to the health, wellbeing, and stability of the families who are able to receive this assistance (just imagine how hard it would be to get or maintain a job or succeed in school without a bed to sleep in!) These basics furnish hope to the community.
This project is funded by the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. If you would like to learn more about Home Sweet Home, including information about scheduling furniture pickups or how to volunteer, please visit HomeSweetHomeSTL.org.
Leftovers, etc. — Dedicated To Promoting ‘Green’ Living & ‘Green’ Practices
By Rebecca Murphy
Leftovers, etc. has been dedicated to serving the community for 31 years. During that time, they have served 34,000 teachers, and 4 million children in 48 Missouri counties, 11 Illinois counties, 18 states and 2 continents through their “Putting Kids First” program.
Executive Director, Sandra O’Dell, has proudly helped to divert 1,000,000 tons of material from the waste stream, and provided school supplies to children and schools after major environmental catastrophes. When schools in Houston, TX. experienced major damage after hurricane “Harvey” in 2017, community members knew just where to go to make sure children had the supplies they needed to get back to school. They have also provided pens, pencils, crayons and other supplies to schools in Zambia, Africa through local missionaries that utilize their centers’ resources.
Leftovers, etc. Resource Center also offers the community many opportunities to enhance creative living. The center currently offers Girl Scout and Boy Scout “Learn and Earn” workshops, a Book Exchange program for adults and children, and the Center Stage Performing Arts & “Albert’s Rising Stars” programs to support arts education for children of all abilities. The center also hosts Field trips, Birthday parties, Summer camps, as well as adult and child Pinterest parties.
Leftovers, etc., in association with The Kaufman Fund, is launching a new program immediately offering FREE school supplies for the children of our Veterans. We will also be offering craft classes, parties, dance and music classes for Veteran families at a special low rate.
The goal of the organization is to encourage people of all ages to reuse, repurpose and recreate through art, dance and music.
Visit us on the web at www.leftoversetc.com or www.facebook.com/Leftoversetc/.
Leftovers, etc., 2065 Walton Road, Overland, MO, 63114, 314-455-9424. Hours of operation: Mon-Thu 1-7pm and Sat 9am-5pm.
Leftovers, etc. is a 501(c)(3) community based, arts and science resource and learning center. Founded in 1989, we are dedicated to promoting “Green” living and “Green” practices by supplying children and educators the basic tools and materials needed for creative living made available by surplus resources donated by business, industry and the local community committed to the development and advancement of Education and the Arts.
What is Creative Reuse? Perennial’s Classes Are The Answer
A recent participant in Perennial’s soldered pendant workshop may have summed up creative reuse without even realizing it, “I’m starting to look at broken objects in a different way.” In the class folks learn how to use a soldering iron to transform broken ceramic or glass items into unique pieces of jewelry. People who sign up for classes might be first time artists, but by the end of the day they’re proud of what they’ve made and inspired to continue the reuse process at home. The pieces are beautiful, but the most important transformation isn’t the broken plate, it’s the participant’s attitude. Not only do they start to see new possibility in things that are broken, but they also feel empowered to make that change happen.
Perennial’s mission is to build a creative culture of sustainability where discarded objects are transformed into cherished resources. Perennial offers classes that give folks the hard skills they need to make these transformations possible including woodworking, sewing, soldering, using natural dyes and more. All classes share techniques for finding and working with salvaged materials. The tools 101 series gives folks access to safely try power tools so that they can turn that old desk they found in the alley into a family heirloom. The sewing classes teach participants how to repair and extend the life of a favorite outfit or use new skills like crocheting or weaving to make something completely new out of unusual materials including bedsheets, or t-shirts. The zero waste workshops encourage people to share steps they take at home to begin to reduce their environmental footprint.
Creative reuse goes beyond the function of upcycling or repurposing. It encourages people to connect to what they’re making. Perennial’s classes are taught by artists who are passionate about sustainability. There’s value in making something unique and beautiful and Perennial gives people the tools and confidence to make it happen. If we start to change the way we think about broken and discarded items it will make a big impact. Last year Perennial participants diverted 6 tons from the landfill, but the work doesn’t stop there. It’s going to take creativity from our whole community to find solutions to the environmental challenges we’re facing. Taking a workshop at Perennial is fun, impactful, and encourages you to start looking at what you buy and throw away a little more creatively.
Perennial is located at 3762 S. Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63118. For more information call 314-832-2288 or visit www.perennialstl.org