In an industry that produces almost a thrid of the world’s waste how can we be different? Here is how Able Trade is trying…
Heated with WAste Oil Heaters
In the fall of 2021 we purchased two large waste oil heaters to heat our 24,000 square foot shop. Every year, it is estimated that more than 200 million gallons of used oil are improperly disposed of and burning this unusable oil in a safe, professional heater keeps oil out of landfills and our water. Our waste oil combustion systems meets or exceeds the EPA requirements for preserving clean air.
FIREWOOD SCRAP BIN
No surprise but we produce a lot of little scrap pieces of wood here. Items that are large enough to be useful to someone else’s project are placed in a scrap bin this free to all. If it’s even smaller we toss it into a bin specified for firewood. All our members are welcome to take home these scraps to their home wood burning stoves or backyard fire pits. Sometimes there is even a little left over so if you are interested in coming by and filling your own firewood bin just shoot a message to melody@weareabletrade.com
t-shirt drop off
Bring in your stained, ripped and well loved cotton t-shirts that are not able to be donated to a local thrift store and we will turn them into cotton rags for our members.
Bring in as many or as few as you want to any First Friday Gallery night and drop off in the designated bin next to our flyers and handouts.
sharing
Our biggest green effort is the basics of our business, sharing. By sharing tools, and space we are cutting down on the need for every individual to have a shop and all the equipment of their own. By breaking away from the American message of needing to own everything yourself we benefit in a multitude of ways.
sawdust & pallet pick up
We make lots of sawdust here and we would much rather it be put to good use than adding to our landfill. Our sawdust is primarily hardwoods free from finishes, paints, and other chemicals.
We regularly have pallets available as well so just come by our fenced in yard under Gay St. viaduct and take what you need.
Always improving
We are still a young business and take baby steps every chance we get to lighten our footprint. We have changed out all of our lighting to more energy efficient LED lights and are regularly adding motion sensor switches around the shop. We have grand dreams of installing solar panels on our roof some day and have started to plant a pollinator garden out back. We are always open to suggestions to find more ways we can be kind to our beautiful planet.