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HomeNewsArchivesIsland Profile: Gary Emmons Keeps ReSource Depot on Track

Island Profile: Gary Emmons Keeps ReSource Depot on Track

Gary EmmonsWith a job as manager and "chief cook and bottle washer" at Island Green Living Association’s ReSource Depot, St. John resident Gary “Buddha” Emmons found his niche.

The ReSource Depot is a place to drop off unwanted construction materials and household goods that include everything from toilets to brass bric-a-brac. For example, ReSource Depot has two containers filled with just windows.

“We get a little of any and everything,” Emmons said.

It’s also the spot where frugal folks go to buy what they need or want. The purpose is to keep items out of the V.I. Waste Management Authority’s Susannaberg Transfer Station.

He wants to get the word out to those who may not be in the know about this island treasure, which is located across Gifft Hill Road from the V.I. Waste Management Authority Transfer Station. Emmons said he’s bothered when he sees perfectly good items left at the island’s Dumpsters when they could find a new home with someone who’s looking to save a few dollars.

Emmons, 60 and a 38-year Virgin Islands resident, remembers when picking up someone’s castoffs at the Dumpsters was common.

“The best Dumpster was in Catherineburg,” he said, mentioning a neighborhood where the residents always were on the upscale side.

Looking for treasure at the Dumpsters changed for two reasons. For starters, the Waste Management garbage haulers now pick up everything at the Dumpsters rather than leaving usable items for use by residents. Emmons said these days, people have to get there before the garbage trucks arrive to find anything usable.

Second, a lot of people with villas on St. John and some who live here come with deep pockets. Emmons said they’re not concerned about saving money when it comes to their house and tend to just throw usable stuff in the Dumpster. He lets people at Dumpsters know about the ReSource Depot when he sees them throwing good stuff out.

In his personal life, Emmons lives by the reuse and recycle mantra. Much of the materials he used to build his house was plucked from Dumpsters or after the ReSource Depot opened, purchased from its eight shipping containers used to store goods.

He’s a modest man who said he’s lead a boring life, but conversation shows that’s a gross misstatement.

Born in French Settlement, La., a hamlet located between the big cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, he went off to school in Baton Rouge because French Settlement had no schools.

After a “little bit” of college and some years doing a bit of this and some of that, he headed off to Mexico for a spell. His next stop was St. Croix, where he repaired cisterns.

He moved to St. John in 1979. He made jewelry for a living, opening a shop with fellow jeweler John Grinsted at the Boulon Center. After a few years, he sold his half of the business and switched to maintenance and messing around with boats.

Except for a stint in Belize in the 1980s and nearly a year in the states in the 2000s, he’s spent the rest of the years on St. John in various jobs that involved tools.

As for his Buddha nickname, he said that while he’s always followed Eastern religions, he got it because he was working on cisterns with the late Steve Krall. He was fairly rotund in those days and had a hard time getting through the cistern hatch, so Krall gave him the nickname.

“Now I’m a thinner version of Buddha,” he said, laughing.

When he’s not at the ReSource Depot, Emmons tries to swim every day after work. On his days off, he keeps up with his house and other routine chores.

He’s likes to chat, so stop by the ReSource Depot from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7:30 a.m. to noon Saturday.
“I’ll make you a really good deal,” he said, ever the salesman.

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