OUR MISSION
Big Reuse's mission is to fight climate change through community-based zero waste initiatives.
We pursue our mission through reuse and transformation. The Big Reuse Center takes in tens of thousands of donated items that are resold and kept in use by thousands of new owners, keeping them out of the landfill. Through the NYC Compost Project and Curbside Composting Outreach we help New Yorkers sustain city-wide composting programs that collect food scraps and turn them into compost used to enrich soil across NYC and strengthen our green infrastructure against climate change.
History
- 2015 - Build It Green! NYC's Salvaged and Surplus Building Materials program spins off to create Big Reuse based in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Big Reuse launches Big Reuse Center, its social enterprise, which sells a broad variety of donated used and vintage goods. Big Reuse operates NYC Compost Project Hosted by Big Reuse.
- 2017 - Curbside Composting Outreach, in partnership with the NYC Department of Sanitation starts up to conduct community outreach to grow sign-ups for and increase participation in NYC’s Curbside Composting Program. Big Reuse begins operating two large-scale community composting sites. The Queensbridge composting site was an illegal dump for waste until Big Reuse took over management of the Parks space and removed 40 dumpsters of garbage, upgrading the space into a nationally recognized community composting site.
- 2020 - The US Composting Council names Big Reuse as the Composter of the Year - Small Scale. Big Reuse is a featured recipient of USDA’s Composting and Food Waste Reduction grant.
- 2022 - Big Reuse launches a street tree care team, funded by eight city council members. Big Reuse's NYC Compost Project team's community composting network grows to 75 food scrap drop off sites. The Big Reuse Curbside Composting team leads outreach for boroughwide Queens curbside composting launch.
- 2023 - The Big Reuse Curbside Composting team leads outreach for boroughwide Brooklyn curbside composting launch. 100% of the city’s community composting programs and outreach are defunded beginning 12/30/23 in mayoral budget cuts.Together with Save Our Compost Coalition, Big Reuse and other affected groups launch extensive advocacy campaign to try to restore funding. Sign the petition here.
- 2024 - Big Reuse learns NYC Parks department intends to evict them from their Queensbridge composting site to build a parking lot and begins advocacy work to try to save it. Sign the petition here.
Board of Trustees and Senior Staff
Board of Trustees
Kate Grossman - President
VP, MillerKnoll Contract Marketing
Noah Leff - Treasurer
Chief Finance and Administration Officer, Overbrook Foundation
Christine A. Coletta - Secretary
Partner, Hirschen Singer & Epstein LLP
Elizabeth Aceituno
Sustainable Finance Specialist, World Wildlife Fund
Tishya Ballaney
Associate Director, ESG Index Management Lead, S&P Global
Althea Erickson
Director, Rustle Lab
Alex Guyton
Volunteer Programs Manager, City Harvest
Little Wing Lee
Designer, Little Wing Lee Studio
Josh Treuhaft
Sr Experience Strategist, Apple
Justin Green
Exec Dir, Big Reuse, ex officio
Senior Staff
Justin Green
Executive Director
Diana Stinehour
Finance Director
Fredric White
Reuse Center Director
Devin Reitsma
Project Manager - NYC Compost Project
Sarah Woodruff
Grant Manager
Big Reuse Documents
Partners
