EXCELLENT! 

That was exactly my purpose in starting this group - as a forum for recycling LEADERS to develop advanced strategies for reducing waste and reducing or reusing whatever we already have.

It is just starting to be common to recycle electronics, batteries, plastics, and other waste beyond what most people are already doing.

Teresa I am very glad to learn of the work you are doing to index by location reuse and recycling opportunities.

- Janine in Seattle, WA Cascadia, Earth

Thanks for the CHEERS! Janine. The great thing about this software is that it can be customized and applied to any industry... and since its inception a few years ago it has grown from the residential concept to also address electronic waste, industrial/commercial surplus, construction & demolition reusable materials, agriculture/foresty (biomass), medical/pharmaceutical surplus/waste, and our latest type of exchange "FOOD" (SharedHarvest online farmers' market and food bank rolled into one - see Maryland's www.sharedharvest.net/foodtrader). It all depends on the organization's, municipality's, state's, etc priority/focus whether it be reducing waste in landfill, avoiding greenhouse gases, saving costs on the purchase of new materials, helping those in need, saving food miles, jump-starting a local food economy...you name it, the possibilities are endless.

I found iWasteNot Systems a few months ago by googling "how to get rid of a cooking pot" and came across their various exchanges and Recyclopedia software. So cool. I fell in love with the name and concept and have joined them pretty much full-time now in a client communications capacity.

Once you start brainstorming things that could be reused, it's easy to see where this software fits in. The difference between these sites and say Craigslist or Freecycle (which are also great alternatives), is that the software can provide metrics (cost savings, waste diverted by weight and type of material, etc.) and be customized to suit the location/purpose, etc... If anyone has any other ideas to which this concept could apply or wants to chat about starting an exchange, let me know. As you can see, I could go on forever!! :)

Thanks,
Teresa

www.iwastenotsystems.com

Yes, Raphael, here are already lots of databases in the U.S. to fascilitate exchange and reuse of materials.  Teresa just made some great suggestions in her last post.  I live in Seattle, King County, Washington State, USA.  Here there exists extensive resources to productively reuse or recycle nearly anything, if people know where to look.  We just have to educate the public so everyone knows about and makes great use of these resources.

If you contact the database organizers for the sites you admire you can get specific information how to apply these systems in France.

I tried to recruit some Recycling Leaders of Washington state to join this forum.  (See my first post on this group.)  They were reluctant to take the time to post, which is too bad.

Here's another index of opportunities to exchange, sell, or give away excess building materials to others.
As you know, about 1/3 of our landfill garbage is contruction waste.  We've successfully had this exchange at least 10 yeras.  E-mail someone at King County for specific info.

Look up where to exchange materials in King County, Washington State:

http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/exchange/index.asp


The University of Washington in Seattle and several hardware stores now take back batteries for recycling.
Many businesses have sprung up specifically to salvage and resell usable building materials.  An example of such a business is Second Use Building Materials in Seattle:  http://www.seconduse.com/

Valuable vintage fixtures, lumber, toilets, and all kinds of things in their warehouse conveniently located next door to the Seattle dump!

The City of Seattle has a campaign called Use it Again Seattle.  www.seattle.gov


I've posted many links in the Organizations list of our WE group.

Thanks for taking leadership in materials reuse in France!

Best wishes,

Seattle Janine