Thanks for another great year of reuse, Missoula.
Here’s our top ten highlights from 2017…
900 tons
Deconstructing the Merc
ZERO by FIFTY: Missoula’s Pathway to Zero Waste
Best Green Business
Work Programs hired!
Emerging Zero Waste Businesses
LEDs
MCPS partnership
Climate Smarty Pants Awards
SponCon & the Auction: Amazing thanks to you!
We worked with you to put more than 900 tons of building materials back to work in the community! And by officially expanding into the West Yard this summer, we’ve increased our capacity to help Missoula reuse more building materials than ever.
We safely and successfully deconstructed the Missoula Mercantile and helped spread the proverbial ashes of the downtown icon by making 200,000 board feet of old growth ponderosa pine, stamped ceiling tin, and other unique, historic materials available to the local community through sale and donation. Read the Missoulian article.
We helped launch ZERO by FIFTY: Missoula’s Pathway to Zero Waste. Together with the City of Missoula, we hosted community listening sessions, visited model Zero Waste communities, and drafted Missoula’s Zero Waste plan. That work set the stage for Logjam Presents to launch its Going Green Initiative earlier this month, which aims to vastly reduce the waste stream of three of Missoula’s top concert venues and other businesses are gearing up to reduce their waste as well!
We were voted Best Green Business for a 3rd year in a row in the 2017 Missoula Independent Reader’s Poll. And voted finalist for Best Hardware Store three times running, too. Read the write-up in the Indy.
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We hired two former Work Programs participants onto our staff. Rhiannon was a Youth Intern. Genero was a Youth Apprentice. Those experiences helped them build skills and confidence. Now they are both fully-fledged Reuse Specialists.
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We helped two new Zero Waste businesses emerge. After a ten-year incubation, our deconstruction crew no longer needed a nonprofit home and set out on its own as Montana Deconstruction Services. After a year of service on ZERO by FIFTY with the City of Missoula, former Energy Corps Service member Sean Doty saw an entrepreneurial opportunity and launched Missoula Compost Collection LLC and is now a partner in Logjam’s Going Green Initiative.
We upgraded the lighting throughout our store to LEDs marking one small step toward our giant leap into the build-out of our site, which will be guided at every turn by our commitment to reuse and conserving energy.
We developed a partnership with Missoula County Public Schools. With our multi-year effort culminating in the ZERO by FIFTY Zero Waste plan wrapping up, we set our sights on the next big target: MCPS. Under the leadership of Superintendent Mark Thane, more fifth graders will get ZWAP!ed through our Zero Waste Ambassadors Program and we will facilitate the development of a Zero Waste plan for the entire school district all of which will be supported by the incredible Katie Anderson, our shared Energy Corps service member.
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We received two Climate Smarty Pants Awards for our community sustainability efforts. Steve Nelson along with MMW Architects received a “Master in the (Fine) Art of Community Building” for overseeing construction of the collaborative Summer Smart shade structure project in which reuse featured prominently. Jeremy Drake won a “Catalyst of Change” award for catalyzing Missoula’s move toward Zero Waste by offering a framework to unify community waste reduction efforts (Zero Waste) and by providing the expertise to make it happen. Read more.
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And you helped make our events the best ones to date. SponCon teams continue to raise the bar on vision and execution and our community of support has increased our funds raised at our annual Banquet & Benefit Auction 269 percent over the last 3 years. And due to the support of our generous sponsors, every penny we raised this year went to support our Community Sustainability Programs. (Photos by volunteer extraordinaire Jonathan Qualben.)
Thanks again, Missoula. You made all this possible.
