History of Appliance Depot

Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen is joined by founding ReUse Works board president Carl Weimer to help celebrate the grand opening of Appliance Depot on Sept. 28, 2005.  Weimer currently serves on the Whatcom County Council.

 

The Concept

Appliance Depot was founded on the simple premise that there is economic opportunity in both the products and the people that our society has discarded. With this in mind, a group of low income Whatcom County residents and social service advocates formed ReUse Works in 2004. It’s mission was to “provide job training, jobs, and business opportunities for low income residents using waste and discarded materials.” Discarded appliances were selected as “low hanging fruit” and Appliance Depot became the organization’s first and only project at this time.

Community Partners

Community based organizations like the Northwest Workforce Development Council, Bellingham Technical College and Opportunity Council quickly endorsed the “jobs from waste” concept and expressed interest in placing clients or students in a job training business for work experience.

Start-up Funding

In seeking start up funding, ReUse Works promoted its vision to address several social and environmental issues: low income empowerment; environmental protection; waste reduction; local sustainable development; job creation; job training; and affordable home appliances for the low income community.

Emphasizing different priorities for different funding sources, the project received planning and start up grants from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Russell Family Foundation, Horizons Foundation, Harvest Foundation, Whatcom Community Foundation, Dudley Foundation, and Whatcom County Public Works.

Up and Running

By September, 2005, after conducting a market study and developing a business plan, Appliance Depot opened its doors. Since then, Whatcom County residents and businesses have made it successful. Today, the training business is self-sufficient from generated revenues and no longer requires outside subsidies. It has also accomplished the following:

  • Provided job training for 250 workers
  • Accepted 23,000 unwanted appliance donations from 14,000 donors
  • Saved 5,500 appliances for reuse
  • Saved thousands of reusable parts
  • Diverted 600 tons of material from the waste stream
  • Recycled an additional 1,600 tons of scrap metal after reuse assessment
  • Supported six living wage jobs with benefits
  • Generated $1.3 million in revenue by converting waste to wealth