Creative Reuse Center: A Recycled Art Supply Resource

One of the recycled crafty resources that came up a lot during this year’s and last year’s Summit of Awesome was the Creative Reuse Center. But what’s a Creative Reuse Center, and how can you find one near you?

Creative Reuse Centers

Creative Reuse Centers are typically non-profit ventures, and their mission is to divert potential art supplies from the landfill and make them accessible to artists and crafters. That can mean conventional things like paints and tape or less obvious art supplies like cabinet door samples and wine corks.

They take donations from individuals and businesses, then sort everything, price it on the cheap, and make it available to the general public. A lot of creative reuse centers also do community outreach to teach folks how to make recycled art. The center that’s just starting up here in Atlanta recently hosts recycled art classes at Wonderroot, our creative community center. In fact, I just taught a class for them on making recycled art!

How to Find Your Creative Reuse Center

Unfortunately, there’s no central listing that I know of for creative reuse centers, though if anyone knows of one, please share in the comments! SCRAP in San Francisco has a listing of other creative resources.

Think there isn’t a creative reuse center near you? A quick search might just surprise you! You might also try Googling your city and the phrase “creative reuse center.” They go by a couple of different names: creative reuse center or SCRAP. SCRAP is a sort of franchise situation that started in Portland, Oregon and is now in quite a few cities across the country.

Do you find supplies at your local creative reuse center? Tell us about the one in your town in the comments!