Article was written by Logan Tyree.
The Binghampton Development Corporation Business Hub is literally turning trash into treasure by recycling old tires, mattresses, Styrofoam, and streetlights. They’re creating a cleaner, more sustainable Memphis—AND they’re providing Binghampton neighbors high-quality, revenue-sustained job training.
Housed at the donated 82,000 square foot Power & Tel warehouse, the BDC Business Hub provides low barrier, entry-level employment opportunities for a variety of skill levels. Job trainees have the opportunity to refine and develop soft and hard job skills through classroom learning sessions and on-the-job training. Whether trainees are recycling and repurposing tires or learning about financial literacy, they are actively and intentionally preparing for the next step in their career.
The largest recycling project the Hub has undertaken so far has been to use old bike tires to create bike lane barriers for Broad Avenue.
Team members have been collecting tires causing blight in Binghampton and surrounding neighborhoods to upcycle into bike lane barriers. In this pilot project funded by the City of Memphis and TDEC, the Hub has been able to recycle over 500 blighted tires and repurpose them into something creative and useful. Installation of the bike lane barriers is expected to be completed by mid-February.
The next time you’re on Broad Avenue, be sure to check out the newly installed barriers!
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Want to be part of the upcycling process?
The Hub is currently accepting recycled foam, including clean food service foam (think: egg cartons, meat trays, and to-go boxes) and packing foam (think: foam for packing electronics, coolers, etc.). The Hub collects the foam, and then uses a machine to densify it into a solid block of foam that can be reused.Once enough foam is collected, the BDC plans to have the newly-densified foam turned into picture frames and molding.
If you are interested in recycling your foam, you can drop it off at the Hub warehouse at 2690 Yale Avenue—there are bins located by the BDC Business Hub sign!
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Learn more about the BDC Business Hub here. And be sure to follow the BDC @bdcmemphis to stay up to date on all things BDC!
