Cary’s Reuse Rodeo Teams Up with Garage Bros
Cary, NC – For the fifth year in a row, the Town of Cary is giving residents an easy way to get rid of their reusable waste and see it put to good use. But this year, with help from stars of TV show “Garage Gold,” the program is expanding to take in even more garbage and give it a second life.
New Partners
Cary’s Reuse Rodeo has been a convenient one-stop location for people to drop off materials they could not normally recycle on their own. Every year, at the Garmon Operations Center, people can come from 8 AM to 1 PM to take unwanted household items such as clothing, toys, small appliances, home goods and more.
But the rodeo could not take everything and this year, Saturday, May 14, 2016, the town is getting some help in that department. Sarah Justice, Cary’s environmental outreach program coordinator, said Triangle business The Garage Brothers will be at the rodeo to take items not previously collected.
“New for 2016, we are now taking mattresses, tires, baby equipment and electronics such as batteries,” Justice said.
The Garage Brothers are a Raleigh-based business that clean out garages or attics for free, all while finding new uses for the items they collect to keep them out of landfills. The company’s popularity has led to its own show “Garage Gold” on the DIY Network.
“They got in touch with us since they’re based in Raleigh and are interested in reducing waste,” Justice said. “They wanted to look into existing programs and we ended up with a partnership.”
Trash Into Treasure
The Reuse Rodeo has been going on since 2011, working to provide items to charities such as the Kramden Institute, Dorcas Ministries and Habitat for Humanity.
“We continue to look for non-profits to work with,” Justice said. “And non-profits come and go so we have to be flexible from year to year.”
This year, the Rodeo is also working with The Scrap Exchange based in Durham, which takes otherwise defunct items and turns them into works of art. From March to early April, the Cameron Gallery showed birdhouses made by artist Jefferson Garvey who worked with the Scrap Exchange to take wood and metal from abandoned farms and turn them into his crafts.
“They are a unique group in the Triangle,” Justice said. “We try to work with people in Cary and then spread out to the larger Triangle.”
And Justice said that while the Reuse Rodeo is a convenient one-stop destination on one day, the goal is for the concept of recycling to stick around.
“The event is there to gather waste but it’s also about raising awareness of reuse throughout the year,” she said. “If someone cleans out their house for the rodeo, maybe they’ll think about ways to recycle what they find the next time they clean up.”
Details
Reuse Rodeo
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Town of Cary Garmon Operations Center
400 James Jackson Ave.
8 AM to 1 PM
Story by Michael Papich. Photos by Michael Papich, Dorcas Ministries and allispossible.org.uk.
