Best of the Earth911 Podcast: Rheaply’s Garry Cooper Jr. on Turning Surplus Resources Into Reuse Gold
Meet Garry Cooper Jr., co-founder and CEO of Rheaply. Garry has been recognized as an innovator by Forbes, Chicago Business Magazine, and Crain’s. Much of the waste in our world is the result of overstocking and excess inventory in business and government. As much as $600 billion in surplus goods are lying unused in some of the largest organizations in the world, including universities, hospitals, and industries that span the planet, like construction and heavy manufacturing. Rheaply.com is an emerging resource reuse marketplace aimed at solving the problem by enabling the transfer of resources to where they can be used. The company recently closed a $20 million round of funding — from investors such as Salesforce, Microsoft, AOL founder Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, and others — bringing the amount raised to date to $21 million.
The Rheaply platform is a bit like eBay, but focused on creating regional circular economies. It allows purchasing and other managers to list supplies, equipment, materials, and other surplus or unneeded assets for sale, then track and connect them to potential buyers to close a sale and arrange for delivery.
By bringing together large commercial buyers with supplies within a region, Rheaply reduces the emissions associated with shipping something half way around the world. If it’s available locally, the price and environmental impact are lower. Additionally, the platform can help people inside large organizations exchange assets and supplies instead of disposing of them on a surplus site. Rheaply also provides an embodied carbon tracker that reports on the emissions avoided by choosing items listed in the marketplace. We also explore what other resources Rheaply might sell, including unused employee time and internet bandwidth.
You can learn more about Rheaply at rheaply.com.
This podcast originally aired on November 21, 2022.