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   Laundry Machines

A real estate company which renovates and rents commercial properties contacted NY Wa$teMatch for help disposing of coin operated laundry machines. The previous tenants in one of their buildings had left behind eight washing machines and seven dryers that the new tenant did not need. The machines took up valuable space and blocked passages that contractors needed to use. Discarding the machines would have cost $400 or more.

NY Wa$teMatch found a used equipment vendor who was interested in the laundry machines. When the vendor inspected the equipment, he found that they still worked but could no longer accept coins. This made them unsuitable for resale but suitable for donation. An organization that helps homeless people move to independent housing offered to pick the machines up from the building and installed them at one of their apartment buildings.

Matching the real estate company with the homeless-support organization had the following benefits:

  • Diverted more than one ton of material from the landfill
  • Saved the nonprofit organization more than $9500 in equipment purchasing costs
  • Saved the real estate company more than $400 in disposal costs
  • Allowed the contractors access to spaces blocked by the machines
  • Provided a tax benefit to the real estate company for making a deductible contribution to the not-for-profit organization

 

  		 Paints

An interior decorating store in Westchester County, N.Y., often has a large stock of unwanted paint taking up valuable space. The excess paint comes from discontinued lines, customer returns, painters’ surplus, and other sources. Although latex-based paint is not considered a hazardous chemical, it has special disposal handling requirements that make it more costly to dispose of than regular trash.

Periodically, this store contacts NY Wa$teMatch to arrange donations of their surplus paint. Two such donations went to a park in Jamaica, N.Y., that used it in general maintenance and with classes visiting the park. A third donation went to a nonprofit organization that provides job training to at-risk individuals. The organization used the paint to brighten up its classrooms.

Matching the interior decorating store with these two organizations resulted in the following benefits:

  • Diverted almost 15 tons of material from the landfill
  • Saved the interior decorating store almost $10,000 in disposal costs
  • Provided the park and nonprofit organization with paint that would have cost approximately $35,000
  • Made valuable storage space available for inventory
  • Yielded tax benefits to the interior decorating store for making contribution to nonprofit organization

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