Quantifying The Economic Impact of Finger Lakes ReUse
Finger Lakes ReUse is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Ithaca, New York striving to enhance community, economy and the environment through various activities related to reuse. Finger Lakes ReUse has become a community pillar and national model for used merchandise retailing and seeks to widely share its model. In Fall 2022, during a semester long class at Cornell University, Nika Mekic and I worked with Finger Lakes ReUse Executive Director, Diane Cohen, to study the economic impacts of the organization in Tompkins County, NY. The report follows Finger Lakes ReUse’s triple bottom line approach and demonstrates the wide-ranging positive impacts of the organization’s operations locally, and demonstrates opportunity to replicate the business model elsewhere.
Below is the final written report which can also be found on Finger Lakes ReUse’s website here, as well as a presentation given at the Northeast Recycling Council’s (NERC) Material Reuse Forum.
