Local Environment, Vol. 6, No. 2, 149–168, 2001 ARTICLE Materials Exchanges: an exploratory US survey CLINTON J. ANDREWS & JAMIE MAURER ABSTRACT We characterise US materials exchanges by means of an ex- ploratory survey, with 63 respondents classied by materials handled, organis- ation type and implementation strategy. Few respondents handle hazardous materials; instead, most focus on pre-consumer items such as building materials or post-consumer durable goods such as furniture. Non-prot organisations and state/local government agencies predominate in this niche, which lls a gap between ubiquitous for-prot scrap recyclers and used-merchandise stores. There are three distinct implementation strategies: passive listers of materials; active brokers, who become involved in each transaction; and those who take possession of materials for storage and display in a warehouse. Warehouse operations typically have a local focus and a loyal customer base, whereas passive listing services serve larger areas and are undergoing consolidation. Passive listing services appear to be relatively marginal enterprises, although the adoption of Internet technology is improving their viability. In nature, decomposers often account for a majority of the biological activity in an ecosystem (Begon et al., 1996). In the economy, the analogous recycling, remanufacturing, repair and reuse activities are still evolving and ofcial statistics have not yet caught up with some activities. This inspired us to conduct an exploratory survey of materials exchanges, which are a rapidly growing but loosely dened set of actors motivated by the loop-closing mantra of industrial ecology (Frosch & Gallopoulos, 1989). Background Strasser (1999, pp. 3–5) observes that “trash is a dynamic category … nothing is inherently trash … trash is created by sorting … as everyday life and ordinary housework have changed over time, so has this process of dening Clinton J. Andrews and Jamie Maurer, Department of Urban Planning and Policy Development, Rutgers University, 33 Livingston Avenue, Suite 302, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. Fax: 1 1 732-932-2253. Email: CJA1@rci.rutgers.edu 1354-9839 Print/1469-6711 Online/01/020149-20 Ó 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd. DOI: 10.1080/13549830120052791