Marin Community Benefit Cooperative

A Plan for Marin

Our plan and purpose for the Marin Marin Community Benefit Cooperative includes many ideas developed and refined from lifelong research conducted around reuse. And this plan has many similarities to community programs from around the world but looks at solid waste in a different light, a twenty-first century light that says we can no longer afford to waste recognizing our growing numbers, consumption and pollution, like global warming. We need a new twenty-first century approach, one that is centered around the true value and potential of solid waste rather than its perceived worthlessness. This is what we are working toward, with your support we move forward.

 

Understanding the fact that we today are consuming Earth's life-sustaining resources at an unsustainable rate will only assure a future more unhealthy and unjust than today all who will follow us, like our children. It will be a human tragedy like none ever before.

 

MCBC focus on will be centered around recovery of all reusable building materials from new construction, reconstruction, and deconstruction (especially lumber) and wood recovered from the urban forest.

 

Today, a significant portion of solid wood in our solid waste stream from fallen urban trees and lumber in demolished urban structures has far more value and potential economically and environmentally than other uses including energy generation and composting.

 

By putting used lumber and wood from urban trees into new products and projects their sequestrated GHG emissions contained in the wood remain solid, thus reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and lowering warming. The greatest benefits and value come form those actions we make sooner, like today, than later like tomorrow. The moral of this story is the sooner we begin serious recovery of urban wood and its sequester carbon the soon we will create the new green jobs, dollars, reuse materials and locally made products for a more circular local economy and environment, more circular like nature.

 

Improved community health is the most important objective of this project and so it needs to work and function economically everywhere in our community. Over the last several years the term circular economy has become popular in describing business practices centered around reuse of materials over linear (disposable) practices, with landfill being the final step. Our planning takes this into consideration and has developed a partnership program that is designed around assisting local businesses, institutions, community organizations and local government reduce their waste and improved their performance (triple bottom lines) by way of reduced waste, reduced expenses and increased profitability.

 

A community effort such as MCBC has many needs to make it succeed. Most important is community participation, be it becoming a business partner, volunteering, making a donation of materials or products, locating a reuse material or product, learning how to recover or repair the potential of a reuse resource, or finding wholesome employment, your participation and support is vital to its success.

 

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