Urban Ore Inc
Founded: 1980 by Donald (Dan) Knapp
Sector: Recycling
Business Status: Success
Location: Berkeley, California
Website: urbanore.ypguides.net
Status 1991:
''Urban Ore sits right next to the Berkeley, California, town dump. Each day, Knapp and his employees "mine" the dump for goods that other people wanted to get out of sight, carting them to another area for display and resale. In 1990, Knapp sold approximately $800,000 worth of "discards"'' (Bennett 1991, p.26-27)[1].
Founder:
Dan Knapp received a doctorate in sociology from the University of Oregon, before going on to teach as a professor in Illinois. When Knapp moved back to Oregon he faced opposition to his plans for starting a recycling business. In September 1979 he hitchhiked to Berkeley and began working on landfills four days later. The following year, with his wife Mary Lou Van Deventer, Urban Ore was founded [2].
Urban Ore began by recovering materials such as books, bathtubs, antiques, tools, windows and various other items that would otherwise have gone into landfill; organising them, and cleaning them if necessary, then selling them to the public. Knapp went from being a professor to a scavenger, stating in a 2005 article that ''I felt that I had fallen off a cliff backwards.'' Knapp was driven by a sense of urgency regarding the need to recover resources, rather than bury them in landfill. By 2001 Urban Ore had revenues of $1.5 million, and 27 employees. Knapp went on to get involved in discussions regarding recycling and waste in the city when he spoke out at public meeting against plans that had been approved to install a waste burning incinerator, fearing that it would be the end of recycling in Berkeley, and the end of Urban Ore [3].
Status 2010:
By 1999 Urban Ore was selling an average of 11 tons of used goods each day. Between 80 to 85 percent of the material was either accepted or purchased from the public, whilst the remainder was salvaged from the refuse transfer station. In the spring of 1999 Urban Ore was told that their lease would not be renewed, and they began efforts to raise funds to buy the property. However by this time Urban Ore had been so significant in helping Berkeley achieve its 50 percent recycling goal, that the city manager was instructed by Berkeley City Council ''to provide as much assistance as possible to enable Urban Ore to continue operating in Berkeley''. Urban Ore began looking for other sites, one of which was a possibility, but issues regarding zoning would have to be resolved at a city level before lease negotiations could begin [4].
Urban Ore lost the lease on its original site, having operated there for 18 years, but the city's Planning Commission passed the relevant zoning changes allowing businesses specializing in resource recovery to operate in West Berkeley's light-industrial area. An eco-park was planned where Urban Ore would serve as the anchor tenant within a network of small businesses, creating a one-stop centre for people to drop off or purchase unwanted furniture, appliances and other recyclables. It was hoped that this development would become a model for other eco-industrial parks as a way to reduce landfill costs and meet state mandates on waste reduction. The eco-park would also develop Urban Ore''s concept of recycling a step further through the incorporation of other businesses. Companies such as Counter Production, who made kitchen and bathroom countertops from recycled glass, would be able to reuse surplus stocks of discarded glass from Urban Ore in the manufacture of their products. Knapp also created a spin-off company, Urban Ore Land Co., to develop similar projects in other cities in California. However it was felt that the model would be less likely to work in cities where franchise contracts with garbage collectors prohibited small companies from scavenging waste. In Berkeley recycling was not restricted to a city run programme, but involved a network of independently run salvagers who essentially ''picked apart the city's gabage niche by niche'' [5].
By 2002 Urban Ore was saving three tons of waste per day from going into landfill. Berkeley paid Urban Ore $25 for every ton of waste that it removed, whilst the city charged $75 per ton for waste disposed at the city dump. Knapp described how Berkeley had developed "an ecology of commerce based on small businesses and entrepreneurship, with approximately 210 ''reuse'' based businesses selling bikes, books, clothing and other items that would otherwise be buried in landfill. Several of these companies were based on the eco-park. Berkeley went on to abandon plans to build the incinerator, reortedly due to the impact of Urban Ore and other salvage businesses within Berkeley [6]. According to Knapp the incinerator was defeated through the creation of an industry built on recycling, which involved helping others, including competitors to start or develop their businesses [7].
By 2005 Berkeley was reusing and recycling more than 50 percent of its waste. In 1993 Knapp and his wife conducted a study on recycling infrastructure based on Urban Ore and other recycling companies in the city, for a non-profit organisation in Chicago. The findings were used in a national study in 2003 on the challenges of handling different recyclable materials. During this period Knapp also met with the Australian government to discuss the concept of ''total recycling''. Knapp went on to write the majority of Berkeley's zero-waste resolution, which changed the name of the Solid Waste Commission to the Zero-Waste Commission. Knapp continues to deal with the challenges of recycling and reusing waste through his work at Urban Ore in what his wife termed "the sociology experiment that worked" [8].
Knapp has now initiated Urban Ore-type projects in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and several locations in the United States. He also assisted in the $30 million makeover of Berkeley's major transfer station[9]. The company also creates conceptual designs for zero-waste disposal facilities, and has acted as consultants for the State of West Virginia and Australian Capital Territory amongst others [10].
Urban Ore now operates a Building Materials Exchange with doors, windows, sinks, bathtubs, lumber, bricks and fencing tiles for example. A General Store for furniture, cabinets, house wares, appliances, collectibles, and various other miscellaneous items. A Hardware Exchange including lighting, locks, tools, motors, bikes, sporting equipment etc., and an Arts and Media Exchange with computers, small electronics, books, art and music [11].
Sources:
[1] Bennett, S. J. (1991) ''Ecopreneuring: The Complete Guide to Small Business Opportunities from the Environmental Revolution''. New York, Wiley.
[2] Jamall, J. (2005) UC-Berkeley-area resident turning trash into cash, Daily Californian -University Wire, 27th June, UC-Berkeley.
[3] Pasternak, P. (2002) Entrepreneur Profile: DANIEL KNAPP, San Francisco Business Times, 5th July, 16: 47, p. 40.
[4] Burress, C. (1999) Berkeley''s Urban Ore Dangling by a Thread; Used-goods store marshals resources to buy its home, The San Francisco Chronicle, 6th July, News Section, p.A11, Final East Bay Edition.
[5] Levi Holtz, D. (1999) , A Superstore for Salvage; Berkeley hopes its planned eco-park will save the city millions in landfill costs, The San Francisco Chronicle, 11th September, News Section, p.A13, Final Edition.
[6] White, D. (2002) Waste not, want not; Zero Waste advocates, including Tropicana, foresee the demise of dumps, Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida), 3rd June, Section B -Sarasota Edition, p. BS1.
[7] Pasternak, P. (2002) Entrepreneur Profile: DANIEL KNAPP, San Francisco Business Times, 5th July, 16: 47, p. 40.
[8] Jamall, J. (2005) UC-Berkeley-area resident turning trash into cash, Daily Californian - University Wire, 27th June, UC-Berkeley.
[9] Miller, A. (2008) An Urban Ore operation would be a great fit in Marin, Marin Independent Journal (California), 27th April, Opinion Section.
[10] Urban Ore (2010) Urban Ore: Design and Publications [online].
[11] Urban Ore (2010) Urban Ore: Retail and Departments [online].
Sector: Recycling
Business Status: Success
Location: Berkeley, California
Website: urbanore.ypguides.net
Status 1991:
''Urban Ore sits right next to the Berkeley, California, town dump. Each day, Knapp and his employees "mine" the dump for goods that other people wanted to get out of sight, carting them to another area for display and resale. In 1990, Knapp sold approximately $800,000 worth of "discards"'' (Bennett 1991, p.26-27)[1].
Founder:
Dan Knapp received a doctorate in sociology from the University of Oregon, before going on to teach as a professor in Illinois. When Knapp moved back to Oregon he faced opposition to his plans for starting a recycling business. In September 1979 he hitchhiked to Berkeley and began working on landfills four days later. The following year, with his wife Mary Lou Van Deventer, Urban Ore was founded [2].
Urban Ore began by recovering materials such as books, bathtubs, antiques, tools, windows and various other items that would otherwise have gone into landfill; organising them, and cleaning them if necessary, then selling them to the public. Knapp went from being a professor to a scavenger, stating in a 2005 article that ''I felt that I had fallen off a cliff backwards.'' Knapp was driven by a sense of urgency regarding the need to recover resources, rather than bury them in landfill. By 2001 Urban Ore had revenues of $1.5 million, and 27 employees. Knapp went on to get involved in discussions regarding recycling and waste in the city when he spoke out at public meeting against plans that had been approved to install a waste burning incinerator, fearing that it would be the end of recycling in Berkeley, and the end of Urban Ore [3].
Status 2010:
By 1999 Urban Ore was selling an average of 11 tons of used goods each day. Between 80 to 85 percent of the material was either accepted or purchased from the public, whilst the remainder was salvaged from the refuse transfer station. In the spring of 1999 Urban Ore was told that their lease would not be renewed, and they began efforts to raise funds to buy the property. However by this time Urban Ore had been so significant in helping Berkeley achieve its 50 percent recycling goal, that the city manager was instructed by Berkeley City Council ''to provide as much assistance as possible to enable Urban Ore to continue operating in Berkeley''. Urban Ore began looking for other sites, one of which was a possibility, but issues regarding zoning would have to be resolved at a city level before lease negotiations could begin [4].
Urban Ore lost the lease on its original site, having operated there for 18 years, but the city's Planning Commission passed the relevant zoning changes allowing businesses specializing in resource recovery to operate in West Berkeley's light-industrial area. An eco-park was planned where Urban Ore would serve as the anchor tenant within a network of small businesses, creating a one-stop centre for people to drop off or purchase unwanted furniture, appliances and other recyclables. It was hoped that this development would become a model for other eco-industrial parks as a way to reduce landfill costs and meet state mandates on waste reduction. The eco-park would also develop Urban Ore''s concept of recycling a step further through the incorporation of other businesses. Companies such as Counter Production, who made kitchen and bathroom countertops from recycled glass, would be able to reuse surplus stocks of discarded glass from Urban Ore in the manufacture of their products. Knapp also created a spin-off company, Urban Ore Land Co., to develop similar projects in other cities in California. However it was felt that the model would be less likely to work in cities where franchise contracts with garbage collectors prohibited small companies from scavenging waste. In Berkeley recycling was not restricted to a city run programme, but involved a network of independently run salvagers who essentially ''picked apart the city's gabage niche by niche'' [5].
By 2002 Urban Ore was saving three tons of waste per day from going into landfill. Berkeley paid Urban Ore $25 for every ton of waste that it removed, whilst the city charged $75 per ton for waste disposed at the city dump. Knapp described how Berkeley had developed "an ecology of commerce based on small businesses and entrepreneurship, with approximately 210 ''reuse'' based businesses selling bikes, books, clothing and other items that would otherwise be buried in landfill. Several of these companies were based on the eco-park. Berkeley went on to abandon plans to build the incinerator, reortedly due to the impact of Urban Ore and other salvage businesses within Berkeley [6]. According to Knapp the incinerator was defeated through the creation of an industry built on recycling, which involved helping others, including competitors to start or develop their businesses [7].
By 2005 Berkeley was reusing and recycling more than 50 percent of its waste. In 1993 Knapp and his wife conducted a study on recycling infrastructure based on Urban Ore and other recycling companies in the city, for a non-profit organisation in Chicago. The findings were used in a national study in 2003 on the challenges of handling different recyclable materials. During this period Knapp also met with the Australian government to discuss the concept of ''total recycling''. Knapp went on to write the majority of Berkeley's zero-waste resolution, which changed the name of the Solid Waste Commission to the Zero-Waste Commission. Knapp continues to deal with the challenges of recycling and reusing waste through his work at Urban Ore in what his wife termed "the sociology experiment that worked" [8].
Knapp has now initiated Urban Ore-type projects in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and several locations in the United States. He also assisted in the $30 million makeover of Berkeley's major transfer station[9]. The company also creates conceptual designs for zero-waste disposal facilities, and has acted as consultants for the State of West Virginia and Australian Capital Territory amongst others [10].
Urban Ore now operates a Building Materials Exchange with doors, windows, sinks, bathtubs, lumber, bricks and fencing tiles for example. A General Store for furniture, cabinets, house wares, appliances, collectibles, and various other miscellaneous items. A Hardware Exchange including lighting, locks, tools, motors, bikes, sporting equipment etc., and an Arts and Media Exchange with computers, small electronics, books, art and music [11].
Sources:
[1] Bennett, S. J. (1991) ''Ecopreneuring: The Complete Guide to Small Business Opportunities from the Environmental Revolution''. New York, Wiley.
[2] Jamall, J. (2005) UC-Berkeley-area resident turning trash into cash, Daily Californian -University Wire, 27th June, UC-Berkeley.
[3] Pasternak, P. (2002) Entrepreneur Profile: DANIEL KNAPP, San Francisco Business Times, 5th July, 16: 47, p. 40.
[4] Burress, C. (1999) Berkeley''s Urban Ore Dangling by a Thread; Used-goods store marshals resources to buy its home, The San Francisco Chronicle, 6th July, News Section, p.A11, Final East Bay Edition.
[5] Levi Holtz, D. (1999) , A Superstore for Salvage; Berkeley hopes its planned eco-park will save the city millions in landfill costs, The San Francisco Chronicle, 11th September, News Section, p.A13, Final Edition.
[6] White, D. (2002) Waste not, want not; Zero Waste advocates, including Tropicana, foresee the demise of dumps, Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida), 3rd June, Section B -Sarasota Edition, p. BS1.
[7] Pasternak, P. (2002) Entrepreneur Profile: DANIEL KNAPP, San Francisco Business Times, 5th July, 16: 47, p. 40.
[8] Jamall, J. (2005) UC-Berkeley-area resident turning trash into cash, Daily Californian - University Wire, 27th June, UC-Berkeley.
[9] Miller, A. (2008) An Urban Ore operation would be a great fit in Marin, Marin Independent Journal (California), 27th April, Opinion Section.
[10] Urban Ore (2010) Urban Ore: Design and Publications [online].
[11] Urban Ore (2010) Urban Ore: Retail and Departments [online].