Want to go green? Be like this Seattle company

Seattle-based Second Use is on a mission to reduce waste in landfills by salvaging and selling reclaimed building materials one piece at a time. Anything that can be salvaged from a house or other building — including hundreds of doors, windows, pieces of furniture, and lights — is sold.

It all adds up to 3,500 tons of waste that doesn’t end up in landfills — a number that not only represents what isn’t thrown away, but also what doesn’t have to be recreated.

It might sound like the work of a plucky nonprofit, but Second Use knows a solid business model when they see one. Customers want a great selection of building materials for their homes without paying brand-new prices. And customers also want to support a community business that’s doing a whole lot of good.

As the outreach director for Second Use, Mary Anne Carter wears a lot of hats. If it has to do with Second Use’s marketing, design, or events, chances are Carter’s involved. She even makes and sells Second Use T-shirts.

Carter realized the company could make a few improvements internally that would align with their mission of environmental protection. Chiefly among them? They had to reduce the amount of paper used in the office.

Efficiency meets waste reduction

The best way to replace a paper form is with an online one. Jotform provided Carter a fast, simple-to-use solution to replace her old method of collecting information.

I’ve had a great experience using JotForm. It’s simple to create forms. It’s also very simple to review the information you collect on the form.

Mary Anne Carter, Outreach Director for Second Use

And once she started using Jotform for applications, it became a go-to for other data collection needs as well. Below are the main ways Second Use incorporates Jotform into their business.

Vendor application forms

Second Use is a fixture in the Seattle community on multiple fronts. In addition to selling reclaimed building materials, they also host a number of events, including an artisan popup series and a market that showcases the area’s local makers of handmade items.

Collecting vendor information for their Handmade and Homegrown Market is a painless process with JotForm. And the application fee they need to collect? Not an issue with Jotform’s Stripe integration.

T-shirt and calendar order forms

Carter designs the Second Use shirts herself and sells them in the store. But to sell online, she uses a custom t-shirt order form that integrates with Stripe. Same goes for the company calendars she sells.

Internal photo shoot signup form

Figuring out which colleagues are interested in being part of a group photo, and then what days they’re available to do it, can be a nightmare if you’re sending emails one by one. Carter figured out a better way. A simple signup form sorts out available dates and photo preferences while allowing her colleagues to provide any comments or ideas.

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