What We Do | soscontainer

The Waste:

Hospitals in the United States generate nearly 6 million TONS in medical waste each year. A large portion of this waste consists of unused and “under-used” medical supplies and equipment.

The Want:

The World Health Organization estimates that every year more than 6 million children die before their fifth birthday, largely due to inadequate medical care.

What To Do:

Supplies Over Seas is a Louisville, Kentucky-based Medical Surplus Recovery Organization (MSRO), one of just fifteen organizations of its kind across the United States, and the only organization of its type in the immediate region.

As an MSRO, SOS is committed to responsibly recovering, sorting, and distributing unused, leftover, and “under-used” medical supplies and equipment.

Typically once donated materials have been thoroughly sorted, SOS loads those materials into a 40 ft. sea-going container and ships them out to a medically impoverished community. In addition, last year alone we provided more than 120 medical mission teams with the supplies they need in order to treat under-served patients around the world.

Our Local Impact

While our primary mission at SOS is to connect surplus medical supplies and equipment with medically impoverished communities “overseas,” a portion of the materials that SOS recovers are used to support individuals and organizations in our own backyard.

Environmental:

SOS strives to use and/or recycle 95 percent of the materials that we receive. No matter where the donated supplies and equipment, SOS makes a local impact by keeping those items our of our landfills.

Education:

SOS support medical education by providing expired materials to healthcare educators, helping to stretch their limited budgets.

Personal Hygiene:

SOS supports regional shelters and social service organizations by providing personal hygiene items not appropriate for international distribution.

Animal Welfare:

SOS supports regional animal welfare organizations by providing expired supplies to free and affordable animal welfare groups.