There have been many operators who have found productive and sometimes lucrative uses for their used vinyls. Insider heard that Meadow Outdoor is sending their vinyls to Sudan. We had a chance to have a conversation with Brian Casady, Chief Operating Officer for Meadow, whom leads the effort.
Brian, I understand you have chosen a unique spot to put your older vinyls to good use? Where do you have them going?
Southeastern Sudan, Nuba Mountains specifically.
How did Meadow know about and decide that the Sudan was where the vinyls could be put to good use?
Personal connection and work in the area related to an education/school project and a hospital. If you’re interested in learning more about the hospital and region check out the documentary “Heart of Nuba” which you can rent on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Nuba-Cornelio-Catena/dp/B07DP178B2 . You can learn about the school project at https://tomovemountains.org/
I understand you took the lead in this project?
I took the lead in this project to collect and ship about 10 tons of billboard tarps along with an equal amount of medical and school supplies and construction equipment. Meadow and a few others in the industry including, Johnsen and Fretty and RMG, financially supported the project. Jim Johnsen of Johnsen and Fretty initially came up with the concept of using retired tarps for refugee shelters. He and I started brainstorming because I had seen billboard tarps in use as roofs in a refugee camp in South Sudan. We have developed a relationship with Scott Key of Every Shelter who is working on a larger project to convert used billboard tarps to shelters and distribute them to refugees on a large scale. We are supporting his efforts. The vinyls in this shipment are basically R & D on getting the material where it can find its “highest and best use” as a repurposed material by putting it in the hands of people who are really in need and who can work with what they have on the ground to develop effective shelters. We hope to have sample concepts from the folks in Sudan in the next several months.
Primarily for roofs for refugees and IDPs (internally displaced people) and communities in a war zone isolated by decades of ongoing conflict.
Will this be a continuing relationship?
We have an ongoing relationship with Every Shelter who has a presence in refugee camps in tough regions of the world. Every Shelter is working with outdoor companies, including JC Decaux, on converting billboard tarps into shelters and is currently trying to develop relationships with outdoor companies in the US to acquire used tarps on a large scale in order to scale up the project. We are hopeful we’ll get some traction. If we can, it’ll be a win for the industry on both a social and environmental front and a huge win for refugees around the world. We recently had a conversation with some folks from OAAA, including Jeff Jan, who I believe are eager to support the effort. It would be fantastic to have as many companies as are interested donate tarps to this effort on an ongoing basis. Folks can either reach out to me (bcasady@meadowoutdoor.com) or can get in touch with Every Shelter directly at https://everyshelter.org/. Every Shelter is a 501c3 and provides tax deductible receipts for all donated tarps. We can work with companies to collect their tarps and get them into the hands of people who will put them to use helping folks in need both domestically through a partnership Every Shelter has with FEMA and internationally through the refugee shelter program.
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