The corporate mindset of discarding waste with great haste is something a Pine Grove businessman is trying to change.

 Jim Reid founded Green Solutions North America in 2006, which takes corporate materials, such as office furniture, that are considered surplus by their clients and gives them to schools, charities and other organizations.

 He calls it "turning waste into opportunity" and helping large organizations do that right thing through corporate social responsibility.

 "We manage the disposal of their redundant corporate assets and most organizations don't measure the cost of doing that," he noted during a recent presentation to a Bridgewater business meeting.

 "They focus predominantly on what they are buying, not what they're getting rid of."

 Millions of tonnes of corporate waste ends up in landfill as a result.

 Given the high profile of climate change and other environmental issues, some companies are starting to understand waste reduction is not an option but something that has to be done.

 "They see that unless they embrace it they will go out of business," Mr. Reid said.

 Green Solutions North America has eight warehouses, each measuring up to 135,000 square feet, that are full of chairs, desks and other things poised for distribution to the less fortunate.

 Mr. Reid said his company has 26 major projects on the go in the Toronto area and has assisted at least 30 charities and non-profit groups in Nova Scotia. They also have 140 clients signed up and recently completed three deals, worth six figures, in the United States and have plans to expand further.

 "We take everything from a paper clip to a 100-tonne HVAC and direct it away from landfill and what we can't use or re-purpose, we recycle," he said.

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 "We're currently achieving 93 per cent diversion from landfill."

 Mr. Reid has also presented information about his company to the International Council for Small Business World Conference in Halifax.

 He told the conference that his company's success "is an example of entrepreneurs taking action on their own to help protect the environment rather than waiting for government agencies to introduce controls," a news report said.

 More information on Global Solutions North America can be found on the South Shore Community Directory at www.southshoredirectory.ca on the internet.

posted on 10/07/08