Company seeks creative buyers to repurpose byproducts

The repurposedMATERIALS Inc. company in Denver, Co., launched its business by taking waste products (the first was billboard vinyl being landfilled) and using them for new products (tarps manufactured from the vinyl). Now, repurposedMATERIALS seeks both reusable byproducts and creative buyers who know how to turn those disposables into gold. The company also provides a simple primer on what byproducts might be repurposed into the next big thing—S.A.V.E.

Reusable byproducts should be Standardized: of uniform size, color, texture and quality. Byproducts should be Available, consistently produced by many industries in high enough quantities to serve as raw material. The byproduct should be Versatile enough to be reincarnated into diverse products (a plastic drum can become a trash can, storage container or compost bin, for example). Finally, byproducts have Engineered specifications, ingredients, properties or characteristics that make them perfect for certain applications. If a byproduct fits the S.A.V.E. model, repurposedMATERIALS wants to assess whether it might be a viable source.

Among those items currently stocked at repurposedMATERIALS are conveyor belts, food-grade 275-gallon totes, filter cloths, burlap bags, mesh swimming pool covers, snow fence lumber and artificial turf. The company has byproducts “classified” ads where inventive repurposers can seek out specific materials they want in bulk.