We are happy to be currently featured on the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Waste Wise website as a success story of their BizRecycling grant program! “Through the BizRecycling grant, Mano a Mano was able to purchase equipment to improve the safety and efficiency of their donation processing and distribution and to reduce waste in their operations. This equipment included a new pallet jack with a scale to move and weigh items for shipment, a stable sorting station for volunteers to process donations, a dishwasher to reduce the use of paper products and other disposables, and recycling and compost containers.” In 2019, Mano a Mano shipped 203,747 pounds of supplies from Minnesota to Bolivia, with the help of 19,092 hours of volunteer time in the Twin Cities.
MN Chamber Waste Wise Success Story
Here is the full success story feature from the MN Chamber website (scroll to the bottom of the page), with a photo version below. Thank you Waste Wise!
About Waste Wise
It’s possible to save money and the environment at the same time. The Minnesota Chamber experts at Waste Wise have provided and secured more than a million dollars in grants for companies that reduce, reuse and recycle waste. Our team can help educate and train your company, and find ways to control waste costs and connect with grants to fund recycling program improvements.
Mano a Mano Recycled Resources Program
We started in 1994 with the goal of saving surplus medical supplies from the landfill in Minnesota and shipping them to Bolivia, where we knew these supplies were desperately needed and could be used immediately. Since then, we have shipped over 4,000,000 pounds of donated supplies and equipment, which have been distributed to people and organizations in need throughout Bolivia. Almost all of the supplies we have received would have ended up in the trash. Over the past 2 months, most of our distribution efforts have focused on getting supplies to healthcare organizations responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, which you can learn more about at the links below.
Medical Supply Distributions – March & April 2020
- Distributing PPE & Medical Supplies to 70 Organizations in Bolivia
- Donating PPE and Medical Supplies to Hospital Gineco-Obstetrico in Sucre, Chuquisaca, Bolivia
- Distributing Supplies, Equipment, and Food in Bolivia
- Mano a Mano Will Be Closed Until May 4th
- Mano a Mano, Our Medical Supply Program, and COVID-19 Updates
- Distributing Donated Medical Supplies in Cochabamba
- Donating Supplies to Hospital Cochabamba
- Donating Supplies to Red Cross Potosi
- Distributing Supplies in Bolivia – March 2020
- Sorting Supplies from Minnesota for Distribution in Bolivia
2 of our counterpart organizations – Mano a Mano Internacional and Mano a Mano Bolivia – have received permission from the government to work during the current quarantine to distribute medical supplies and protective equipment needed by healthcare organizations throughout Bolivia to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. All of the supplies being distributed were shipped from Mano a Mano’s warehouse in St. Paul, Minnesota. 
Organizing PPE supplies for distribution, April 9, 2020 
Organizing PPE supplies for distribution, April 9, 2020 
Distributing supplies to Hospital Cochabamba. Red Cross Potosi drove to Santa Cruz and back, including a stop at Mano a Mano in Cochabamba, to pick up supplies. That is 24+ hours of nonstop driving time. 
28 hospitals & nonprofit organizations arrived to receive donated medical supplies and equipment at Mano a Mano’s Cochabamba warehouse on March 14th, 2020.
