 Aloha. I'm Kauai Lucas. This is Hawaii is my mainland every Friday at 3 p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii. Hawaii is my mainland. We try to be on the bright side and off the grid. And today I have two budding entrepreneurs and a recent grad from UH and a still-in-school at UH. Ilya Bruno, who's the founder and first executive director of Honolulu's new tool library. And with him is, if you've been watching Think Tech Hawaii, a familiar face. She was just here with Ethan. Kristen Jameson. Thanks for coming down. Thank you so much for having us on this show. So tool libraries. I ran into one for the first time a couple years ago in Seattle and I thought, oh my gosh, why don't we have one in Hawaii? And voila, here you are. But it wasn't quite that easy, was it? It definitely wasn't. But I had the same reaction when I heard about tool library and I was like, why are we not doing it in Hawaii? And decided to step up for it. Well, tell us a little bit how you brought it together and made it happen. Well, first of all, I just remember being in my backyard with a lot of awesome project ideas that I wanted to do. I wanted to build garden beds and rain catchment and compost bin. And there I saw the struggle. This is never going to happen if I don't put so much money into buying tools that I'm really going to use. I saw it didn't make sense and I decided to do something about it. And I got, immediately got on Google, how can we solve this problem? There's got to be a better way. That's how I learn about tool libraries. And that's how it is how to do step up for it and bring one to Hawaii. So you started this and this is part of the sharing economy really in the best sense. And you you've broadened it by making it a membership based non-profit. So these are all good things. And you're including other parts of the community, including the space. So in every part of this, you are reusing and maximizing the the use of these resources. And it's a great thing because most people don't even think anymore about how often is it going to be used or where is the space or the upkeep and the maintenance and all of that. So tell us where where it is and how it works. Yeah, so we are actually very proud and excited to have found a great home for the H&L Tool Library and that is at Reuse Hawaii. And for those of you who don't know, Reuse Hawaii is also a non-profit. And their goal is to upcycle all the material from from old houses that would have otherwise gone to the landfill. So Reuse Hawaii was kind enough to to let us use some of their space and their warehouse. And so right now we're sharing this space with this awesome organization that is also doing great stuff for the community. I think it makes it great because people that come to us looking for tools are also going to be able to get upcycled material from Reuse Hawaii. Let's take a peek. Yeah. Oh you can talk. So this is what it looks like now. Yeah, it's evolving every day. There's always more tools coming in but it is definitely an evolving place. This is from a couple of weeks ago. And actually it's not limited just to tools, is it? Well the definitional tool is very broad, right? It's anything that allows you to do a job a little bit faster. So in our original vision we we plan to have more than just the construction tools and gardening tools and expanded to camping equipment, sporting equipment, kitchen appliances, pretty much everything that makes sense sharing. Right now we're starting with just tools because being that we are in a warehouse where there's you know a lot of construction material around maybe having kitchen appliances wouldn't be that clean for it but in our long-term planning vision we do plan on having more than what you would think as a tools. And obviously Kristen because you're sitting here this is not a one-man show and it's not just a man show. There are two women who are in the in the upper echelon. Yeah so Bethany Brown's kind of the third leg of our tripod right now. And you guys all met up at UH. Is that how this happened? So I was actually organizing a Manoa Honolulu soup. So Sam Ruiz organizes these amazing Honolulu soups which are kind of crowd funding campaigns for awesome ideas. And I thought you know we got to bring this to UH so that UH students can fund their projects. And Aliyah submitted his idea for the Honolulu Tool Library and that's kind of where he got us for six hundred dollars for the project. And you know from there he just took it and ran with it. Everything about the way this project has evolved has been really embedded in the mission. I mean you're really looking to maximize reuse and the return to the community and keeping people involved. So you have you're still at UH right? And you're also with the amazing UH sustainability office right? Yeah that's correct. So but to make this big leap from this concept that you pitched at a crowd funding event to it really being bricks and mortar now how did that process happen? Well it was almost a year long process which involved definitely a lot of effort but pretty much after I won the six hundred dollar at soup that helped me being more committed than ever because you know I was in a situation where I either swim or drown you know in the community the community really invested in me and I wasn't gonna you know I wasn't gonna fail you know I just decided that. So I started by you know classic like build the website and start making a plan but I think a very important investment that I did was to fly out to the mainland where two libraries already exist and learn from them how how are they doing it. So it's like enough to get to attend the very first international lending library symposium that took place at a two library in Baltimore where I got to learn from two library funders from the mainland from Canada from even Europe. And so it wasn't just but this symposium wasn't just to a library so it wasn't just a library it was also toy libraries you know if you have a kid you know your kids are gonna want a lot of toys and then they get over after a week white white white buy buy more toys when you can just borrow and then return them as your kids get bored with them. Great idea. So what was your what did you think after hearing about the experiences of other tool libraries did that change your model in any way? Oh it definitely helped me get more inspired and and then the more I got to talk to them the more and the more I got to learn about two libraries the more I was convinced that how I really needed one because I got to learn about the impact that two libraries have in their community and it just makes even more sense to start sharing here and why we're so isolated and we rely so much on imports. Yeah and it costs so much not just for the import in the dollars and cents but also in carbon footprint and all of that and you have some really great statistics to show for that you you sent me the statistics on them you know what is the life-cycle you've looked into it the life-cycle costing and of tools so yeah so right now we're pretty much looking at the carbon footprint of a drill since it's created until it's disposed what we see in the center is the carbon footprint of five people using one drill and when we see on the right is the carbon footprint of five people owning each of them has a drill so five people in five drill and we're looking I mean it's significant this happens because the majority of the carbon footprint of a drill actually comes from material extraction from the manufacturing from the distribution only 2% of it comes from the use so if we reduce the amount of building and shipping of drills that that that exist and we just focus on using the drills that we have and put them to use we're actually eliminating 98% of its carbon footprint yes okay it's this is not a capitalist idea obviously but it's it's really what needs to happen and what we what really works yeah so it's it's adding the the idea of the community of sharing in a very practical way that we all know yeah so so people can go to your website right which is www.hnltoollibrary.org very well-named or they can go to your Facebook page and first off like it because what's not to like and then yeah the Facebook page is the best place to really keep up to date on all the really exciting stuff unfolding at the Tool Library at www.facebook.com backslash hnltl okay but if they want to actually become a member we have to talk about that a little bit we have I think we have a screenshot of that so if you go to the your website having established that it is exactly as the name is hnltoollibrary.org you can become a member and that's how you're going to be self-sustaining pretty much yeah we we we ask for membership fee which is very minimal which is going to help us maintain the tool and keep keep the operation going so right now what you see in the center is our main membership we call it make it membership and that's pretty much that's the real deal it allows you to borrow as many tools as you like for up to seven days and there's absolutely no additional cost however if you don't want to spend that huge price right there is a cheaper membership it's called fix it membership and it allows you to use you have a little bit of limitation on the number of power tools that the you can take and you can only borrow for up to four days and some tools the one that requires to spend a lot of money on maintenance might have a small charge such as two or five dollars depending on the tool and you're in the process now of building out your inventory and you're you're looking for tools is that right yeah so if somebody has a bunch growing mold and and rust in the corner this might be a good way to absolutely so it's really important that people don't look at us as a rental company we're not buying tools and saying oh these are our tools and you can use them it's more like let's come together we all have tools in our house that we're not using them instead of just have them have them sit there gathering dust let's just bring them all here together and while you're not using it somebody else is using it and making something out of it and that's very generous the 50 the 50 even the $55 one I mean who who uses more than three power tools in four days right right unless you're right it is if you want to compare it to rental rental companies then it's you know it's then there is almost no comparison you you're gonna spend that price on one tool for for half a day and if somebody does have some tools that they want to donate they get a tax yeah they get a tax deductible receipt very nice yeah okay so the reuse Hawaii is in Kakaako it's on Makai it's sort of behind the the it's on Makai of I want a boulevard and I was gonna say it's behind the old immigration building but that's probably not helpful to most people I guess you just Google it we do have a map but how do you describe it to people I well I I just I'm a kind of person I just Google map things so I don't even I usually don't bother trying to explain I just said just Google it and that usually works okay but if I if I was to explain it I would say by Kakaako waterfront park and try to find Keava Street and just drive toward the ocean and it's gonna be there it's a really big warehouse and it has a huge reuse Hawaii logo on it so it I would say that if you drive by you'll see it you just got a yeah eyes open and and don't get waylaid by the the little signs that have reuse and then point towards Diamond Head and the next the next road is actually a parking lot it's you'll get there eventually it is the only warehouse in the in the area and it's pretty massive so if you see it and drive drive toward it and that's a fun place to be anyway great people yeah they have all kinds of cool stuff yeah we're super grateful for our partnership reuse and to speak more about sharing and reusing and what's been great is that everything that we built in the tool library such as our counter that our checkout counter our shelves everything comes from from what we use Hawaii head and their in their warehouse so we're not going out to Walmart and buying and buying new stuff we're just this is stuff that would have otherwise been on the land in the landfill and now it's served in the community through the Honolulu tool library well that is that is the way it's supposed to work in a sharing economy so let's take a quick break and then come back and talk some more about it Aloha my name is Reg Baker and I'm the host of Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker we're a show that broadcast live every Thursday from two to two 30 we highlight success stories in Hawaii of both businesses and individuals we learn their secrets to success which is always valuable I hope to see you on our next show Aloha hi I'm Stacy Hayashi with a think tech Hawaii show Stacy to the rescue highlighting some of Hawaii's issues you can catch it at think tech Hawaii on Mondays at 11 a.m. Aloha see you then welcome back to Hawaii is my main land I'm Kaui Lucas and with me today is Ilya from the founder and executive director of Honolulu's first tool library named H&L tool library and the director of assistant of development Kristen Jameson so Kristen tell us how you got involved with this I guess I'd say that I got involved from that first UH Manoa soup that I put on in coordination with the H&L soup folks and that's when I got really interested in the idea and then Aliyah was really looking to build a tribe and a community to help bring his idea delay and so he asked me if I'd help out and I said of course so speaking of community and we've talked about how you you're working with the sustainability group at UH Honolulu soup and reuse Hawaii and there's also the Honolulu community foundation right yes yeah we're so grateful that's pretty much how we got our first real real grand through Hawaii Community Foundation while we were negotiating our partnership with with reuse Hawaii so that's really what helped us get and get in our feet so thank you so much for Hawaii Community Foundation if you guys are watching and you are also reaching out to other community groups like the K5 group yeah absolutely we realize what we're doing is not only going to help individuals but it also has a great potential to help all the other nonprofit organizations and community organizations that are out there so last Saturday during our tool drive they folks from K-Vibre actually came down K-Vibre by the way is an organization that I believe they fix old bikes and then they teach kids how to fix them and yeah yeah they're great so they actually came down and brought a bin full of bike tools that we're now gonna make accessible to the whole community so that you don't have to buy bike tools you just come down yeah yeah and then you can go for it I mean that whole area is great for riding bikes it's one of the best bike riding places in Honolulu so can make a family event of it bring your bikes get them fixed and go for a ride a very similar community partnership is about to be established with permanent blitz Hawaii which is run with Sir Frider Hauau chapter they their mission is to build awesome edible gardens while keeping in mind waterstorm runoff and make ocean friendly gardens so they're also thinking of just donating all their tools to the tool library and so that everybody can access them while they're not having a permit blitz and when they need it they can always come come out oh that's brilliant I'm a veteran of several permit but says and that's always an issue yeah yeah it's like hauling them there who's where do you keep them when you're not doing the permit but and where are they where did they go just the fact that they get used once a month or less you know it's a waste issue so obviously this isn't just like power tools this is real gardening tools yeah to yeah gardening electric plumbing carpentry automotive you name it yeah okay and the the time so if somebody you go to the website you choose your membership you're all signed up then you come down to kakaako first you check the page Facebook page though to make sure that you guys are are open well yeah the timeline is about to develop because right now actually kind of a news is that today is the first day that you can go online and buy a membership so we just activated actually this morning so if you're watching you could be at the first to let remember right now and then and in a couple of weeks you'll be able to start borrowing tools so by then we're gonna have set our so that you don't have to go to the Facebook page and check you'll know that on a Wednesday and Saturday we're gonna be there and we're gonna announce the hour so that you make sure you'll be sure to find us there okay so so actually right now you can't not this weekend for as now no by Thanksgiving yeah most likely nice long weekend for DIY yeah definitely make some gifts okay and then of course yeah there's Christmas coming up and right but not everybody is knows how to do use these tools are you guys gonna do some skill building activities is that in plan or I think one of the most exciting parts about the tool library is the ability for us to share skills with each other and with the community and that huge sense of empowerment you get from building and creating something and so we are one of the ways that we're really hoping to build this communities by having weekend workshops where people can come put something together build something learn a new skill help volunteer at the tool library and then kind of in the longer term have you know recurring weekly by weekly kind of workshops to kind of teach you how to use those tools and how to make awesome things with them and also another portion too is that you know if we're renting out potentially dangerous tools that you know people are gonna have to take a safety class to make sure that people are using these tools properly wow that's great safety class I know it doesn't sound exciting but actually there's it's a finger it's the barrier between me and power tools actually the fear factor yeah but if I took a if I took a class then I might not be right and we surely I mean truly speaking rental companies don't do that they don't care if you're borrowing a chainsaw and don't know you said or shops don't don't care if you're buying a tool that you don't know to use but we care so we'll make sure that before you take a tool that could potentially cut your finger off you know excellently how to work it safely because some tools are dangerous but they're only dangerous if you don't know about that potential danger that's in the tool a lot of tools if you know that those couple right things you'll be completely safe to use it and then how are you learning to use these tools well I'm gonna be honest I'm not a tool expert yet one thing turned the same for me this tool library is not just about tools it's more about community and sustainability as you probably might have understood but the truth is that nowadays you don't really need to be an expert because we all have a have a great friend named Google YouTube you know you can go on YouTube and learn how to do anything so we that we're definitely gonna encourage our members hey you don't you think you don't know how to do something just go in YouTube and trust me after five minutes you'll be good to go and another really awesome thing too is that the kinds of people who walk in and out of reuse on their Saturday mornings these people love to do woodworking projects around the house and so there's some real woodworking experts in reuse and we're really hoping to kind of bring those kind of people into our tribe and you know grow our collective skill base well so only we sharing tools we're sharing skills to yay so that's another opportunity for people to be engaged so if they have a skill and they're willing to share it they should reach out to you yeah maybe send you a little message on Facebook or something we look forward to this being a place where everybody's a student and everybody's a teacher you got a school that you can share with the community I'm gonna do it and actually in the long-term we were talking with Ruiz Hawaii to actually create a little makerspace area so that you can come into the warehouse with just an idea of a project and we'll have the tools reuse we'll have the material together we're gonna have a space where you can actually go and make the project happen right there that is a beautiful beautiful vision there was a Oahu makerspace do you did you ever go there we we chatted shortly I still didn't take the time to go and try to create a connection or partnership between the tool library and the makerspace but does it still exist it's I believe it does from what I know it still does it used to be near on one and I know that it I remember that I went there and that was cool but it didn't have all the parts together like you have at reuse having all of the components there really makes a lot of sense and there's enough space to have classes that that that workshop behind us is actually the the makers will be the makerspace yeah so this is currently only for views employees use but it is part of our vision to to get it make it accessible to the community during certain hours so that you can come in and work on your projects a lot of people that live in the area don't have room to work on their projects we're talking about caca aqua and it's gonna be just tall buildings and nobody's gonna have a car poor or a backyard to no garage that's true that's so true everybody in a high-rise that's I mean yeah there's absolutely no room it's small studios for the most part and so I don't know if you were part of it but there's a there was a urban farmscape plot two blocks diamond head on Elalo Street I don't know if it's still there but I'm seeing this whole sort of beautiful thing happening in that in that area where tools materials places to grow things that's really such a healthy vision for for that community yeah so you talked about long-term including a makerspace and is this gonna be like a full-time thing for you or do you know we'll see ahead develops I hope it will I mean this has been a great journey and it just feels good to be helping people you know so if I could be helping people like that full-time it's it's great but we'll see how it goes and Kristen in our in our last 30 seconds is there anything that you would like to add to this volunteer days yeah I guess what I like to add is just you know always looking for more people to bring their energy and their skills and their tools down to us and then I'm just really excited to be a part of such a holistic project that really hits all three pillars of sustainability and I'm just really impressed with you know how Alias really made his vision come to life yes in a year awesome well I think I have to say this project embodies everything that I I really think is so critical for what you having a sustainable future you know working together sharing resources and being positive about it right thank you both for coming down to the tech Hawaii it was great pleasure thanks for having us