Salvation Army, facing growing needs, adds business recycling

From its earliest days in London, the Salvation Army has financed its mission through recycling.

Nineteenth century campaigns to gather scraps of newspaper and firewood on English streets grew into the familiar network of thrift stores that find new homes for donations of household items keeping them out of landfills in the process.

Now the organization that combines human services with Christian evangelism is moving into larger-scale recycling efforts in northern Nevada through a collection program at businesses in the region.

Major Michael Zielinski, the Salvation Army's Reno corps officer, says the organization picks up recyclables at about 60 businesses, and the number has been growing steadily.

Starting with a part-time driver who made a couple of stops a few months ago, the Salvation Army today has a full-time driver picking up material at businesses in northern Nevada.

"It's been a good revenue stream for us," says Zielinski.

And that's important, he says, as demand for the social services provided by the Salvation Army have increased dramatically during the recession.

The Salvation Army provides businesses with small or large collection containers, then schedules regular pickups of recyclables that range from the ordinary cardboard, paper, plastics to unusual materials such as used shoes, purses and belts.

From its experience as a large-scale operator of thrift stores, the Salvation Army has developed markets for a wide range of offbeat recyclables such as fashion accessories or single shoes that are missing their mates, Zielinski says.

It's learned, for instance, that the high-grade plastic beads used to fill Beanie Babies are among the most valuable recyclables it encounters at least, when the quantities are large enough and workers painstakingly empty the beads whenever Beanie Babies show up in the recycling stream.

The cardboard that's in high demand on world markets and accounts for much of the recyclable material picked up by the Salvation Army is baled at the organization's Reno warehouse and shipped to brokers.

Zielinski says the Salvation Army recycling program targets larger businesses with significant amounts of material.

He notes that the theme of recycling runs deep in the belief of the Salvation Army.

He says its primary mission, after all, is the recycling of lives that otherwise would be lost.