Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | April 30, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Member FDIC | Member DIF APY rates guaranteed through 1/31/19. All accounts will be converted to a Money Market Account on 2/1/19. A minimum deposit of $10,000 in new money is required to open this account. Rate may change after the account is opened. Fees could reduce earnings on the account. Only one account per social security number or EIN number. Daily Balances Of: $0.01 – 9,999.99 $10,000 – 49,999.99 $50,000 – 4,999,999.99 $5,000,000+ *Annual Percentage Yield 0.10% APY 1.75% APY 2.00% APY 1.75% APY Interest Rate 0.10% 1.74% 1.98% 1.74% BEST RATES AROUND. *$50,000 MIN BALANCE TO EARN THE APY 2.00% APY * Open an account now at countrybank.com/earn-up-money-market of the Devens Enterprise Commission building. What started as a way to help Devens businesses go green has now grown to span companies in 32 area communities, including those in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Last year, the program diverted 66 tons of material from landfills, and the nearly 100 recipi- ents saved an estimated nearly $300,000. "So many teachers we interact with, they're buying this out of their own pocket" if not for the program, said Neely, the executive director of the De- vens Eco-Efficiency Center. Since its launch in 2008, e Great Ex- change has found new use for more than 400 tons of materials benefitting more than 250 nonprofits and businesses and provided savings of nearly $600,000. Business advantages Comrex Corp., a maker of audio and video broadcast equipment for TV and radio stations, has been giving material to e Great Exchange for the past five years. e company gives foam sheets, bub- ble wrap and other shipping materials, along with unneeded CDs to be used for cras projects. Comrex saves on disposal costs, helps the environment and can give a hand to schools or nonprofits. "If the opportunities are there, let's take advantage," said John DeLorme, the Comrex facilities manager. e program has inspired Comrex to keep other materials out of the land- fill, too, DeLorme said. Some shipping materials are reused when Comrex itself ships goods, and others are handed back What's available? A look at some of what's for sale at Devens' Great Exchange: n Paper towel dispenser n Six-shelf wooden bookcase n Hard hats n Work gloves n Black and brown shoe polish n Plastic test tubes n Petri dishes n Calculators n Scissors n Basketball hoop n Funnels n Thermometers Source: The Great Exchange to firms that ship to Comrex so that the other company can reuse them. e Great Exchange can benefit from some companies' misfortune. When Cains Foods closed its pro- duction facility in Ayer last year, Neely was le with an uncountable number of plastic jars and rolls of labels. In all, 48 tons of material was reused, Neely said, including bulk food items to local farms or food pantries. More than 50 entities were recipients of some Cains item, she said. No limits Much of the goods at e Great Exchange are office staples like desk chairs, clocks or reams of paper. But more useful to many recipients are little colorful gadgets that children can use for anything their imagination will let them. "We definitely take advantage of some of the more unusual materials," said Alli Leake, the director of early childhood education at the Discovery Museum in Acton. e museum is known for its hands- on activities like the da Vinci Work- shop, which lets kids come up with any range of creations. e workshop uses packing peanuts, foam, felt materials and leover plastic pieces of different shapes, sizes and colors. "It's really just limited by their own imagination," Leake said. Dona Neely, who runs the Great Exchange, compared its shopping events to Black Friday, with buyers rushing to find the best deals. Here, shoppers browsed an event on April 12. W PHOTO/COURTESY

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