Living a sustainable lifestyle

Sustainability seems to have become a popular word in the past 10 years.  A lot of the public has become aware of how important it is to live a sustainable lifestyle.  The state of Kansas has 61 landfills and Missouri uses 106 landfills.  That is a whole lot of trash!  More and more people are trying to reduce their carbon footprint by minimizing the amount of trash they produce that eventually ends up in a landfill.  There are a lot of great ways to accomplish this. Some ways can be quite costly (like buying shoes that are made from coffee grounds or recycled plastic from the ocean) but many other options can be low cost or even free!

One way for us to live sustainably is to buy used goods.  By buying a used item you are not only keeping that item out of a landfill but you are also stopping the need for further resources to be utilized to make a new item.  We at Adelante Thrift believe in living a sustainable lifestyle.  All of the products we have for sale are donated.  We even regularly receive brand new items as donations.  Although we are not a zero waste company (sometimes we receive donated items that cannot be sold or recycled) we certainly do all we can to run a minimal waste company.

These are our recycling bins that get filled each week.

Many of you know that we remove items from the floor that have not sold after five weeks.  

Although those items did not sell after five weeks that does not mean that their journey is over.  We do not add these items to the landfill, instead we recycle them.  We work in conjunction with another local company that takes all of our recyclable goods. That company  will also try to sell the goods at their own locations or they sell the goods to other organizations that recycle the goods. One interesting example is a company that mulches clothing and turns it into home insulation among other items.  We love knowing that the items that do not sell from our store still have a use and still have a purpose. 

You can live a sustainable life as well by donating your gently used items and by shopping at Adelante Thrift.

Adelante Thrift Partner Spotlight: Kansas State School for the Blind

Written by Elena Chan, Community Development Director

One of Adelante Thrift’s values is generosity. We strongly believe that generosity has the power to transform individual lives as well as the entire community. For the past three years, the store has been blessed by the outpouring of the generosity by people and organizations who have served alongside us in our community. One of them is Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB), located right here in Kansas City, Kansas, less than two miles from Adelante Thrift.  Each week during the academic year for almost three years, the store has hosted a group of teachers and students that come to serve. They are very familiar with our staff; they know exactly what needs to be done; they learn new things about the store’s operations; they get to meet other groups of volunteers.

As stated in their mission statement, KSSB has a very clear aim: “We build local capacity throughout the state via strategic partnerships to ensure learners with visual impairments are able to assume responsible roles in society and lead fulfilling lives.” The school teachers seek project sites that are able and willing to accommodate their students with visual impairments and allow them to learn and improve their social and physical skills at a pace and manner suitable for them. Another consideration is the site location, which, because of the store’s proximity to the school, allowed it to be considered as a potential site. After visiting the store with the students for the first time, the decision was made to approve the store for the group’s regular service.

Besides serving on a weekly basis, the school has also become a donor of goods. Earlier this month when the school underwent a major facility renovation, they donated 30 beds and dressers to Adelante Thrift that all sold within two weeks!

It’s truly a blessing to have partners within the community that are generous and with whom Adelante Thrift can enjoy a reciprocal relationship.  Thank you, Kansas State School for the Blind, for your hard work making your vision a reality in our community, and for fostering your students’ ability to assume responsible roles in society and lead fulfilling lives.

Visit www.adelantethrift.com/volunteer to learn more about serving at Adelante Thrift!