Collecting arts and crafts supplies can be a fulfilling endeavor — one that can bring joy as you create at home and share your work with others. But eventually, those supplies get replaced with others, and you’re left with a pile of unused materials.
It’s nice to have items like these available, but it likely isn’t necessary to hold onto supplies that no longer serve you.
In your collection of craft supplies, do you have paint that you no longer use, or buttons that will never be sewn onto a shirt or jacket? Maybe you have fabrics, felts, or foams stored away “just in case”. Items like stickers, crayons and markers, or paintbrushes left over from a previous project?
Rather than throw them away, donating your leftover or surplus materials is an earth-friendly and community-benefiting alternative.
Creative reuse centers, like ReCreative Denver, collect your used materials and help keep them out of landfills. When you donate, you redistribute to the community and you show your support for the organization. Proceeds from the resale of your goods goes to things like arts programming, workshops, and other community-driven projects.
By donating, you have a much bigger impact than you may realize. Since opening in 2016, RCD has diverted nearly 93,000 pounds of waste from landfills because of donations made. Read on to discover how creative reuse centers — and your support of them — helps give material new life and benefits the greater community.
How the Community Benefits
Creative reuse centers are a place to learn, discover, and create. Browsing through secondhand art supplies — where you never know what you might find or who you may meet — can lead to inspiration and collaboration with other creatives. Expect the unexpected!
Through programming, creatives of all ages and backgrounds can learn about reuse in a fun and inclusive environment.
By demonstrating that art can continue to be made from materials all around us, centers like ReCreative reduce barriers to art supplies and make artistic expression more accessible to everyone.
Students and teachers also benefit from donated items. Educators can stretch their budgets by purchasing affordable and unique materials at creative reuse centers. Classroom supplies are often donated — sometimes brand new — and can be repurposed for students.
No matter your level of artistry, your passion, or your profession — you can find something to bring new life to when you visit a creative reuse center.
How the Environment Benefits
When you donate your unused materials, you help prevent pollution by reducing the need to create or harvest new materials.
You can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global climate change and lower the amount of waste that would otherwise be sent to be recycled or sent to landfills. There are also organizations now that focus on how reusing and recycling artistic materials can help clean up our oceans.
Centers like ReCreative also can create green collar jobs and volunteer opportunities. With such a focus on “greener” initiatives, they generally support economic development in the environmental sector. You’ll find that creative reuse centers also often collaborate with other organizations who have similar visions and dreams for their community impact.
By taking a moment to gather unused materials and share them with reuse centers, you’re contributing to the fight for a more sustainable future for generations to come.
Items You Can Donate
When you donate to ReCreative, you not only are making a difference in your community and our environment, you’re also helping yourself. Each donation is tax-deductible and you’re making space in your home for your next great creative project.
There can be quite a bit of wiggle room when it comes to what you can donate, but generally creative reuse centers, like RCD, typically look for:
Yarn, fabric, and sewing materials
Sewing machines
School supplies
Office supplies
Paper of all colors and sizes
Sketchbooks and canvasses
Colored pencils, crayons, markers, chalk
Easels and palettes
Paint (oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic) and varnishes
Paint brushes and paint/palette knives
Clay, pottery tools, and glazes
Film and cameras
Scrapbooking supplies (stamps, paper, tools, etc.)
Greeting cards and gift wrap for every occasion
Wood, metal, and plastic in a variety of shapes and sizes
Specialty items donated by local businesses and manufacturers
Vintage goods
It’s always exciting to see what folks bring in and how others bring new life to those items.
Get Involved at ReCreative
We believe that art fuels innovation and collaboration, and we strive to create a physical space and approach that embodies this belief.
As we work to continue to be not only a model for environmental stewardship, but also a catalyst for social and intellectual enrichment, we hope you’ll join us. By bringing together members of our community to donate, shop, create, and experience cultural and personal connections — we wish to inspire growth and change.
Art has the power to change human consciousness, and the more we continue to build a community who believes this, the more we can all challenge one another to think more broadly about interpersonal and global impact.