After all the enthusiasm generated by last week's post on the Scrap Center for Creative Reuse in San Francisco, I decided to do some digging to find out how many similar crafting meccas are out there.

I have scoured the internet to try to put together a comprehensive list of creative reuse centers, organized by US state and then by continent outside of the US. Reuse centers are valuable resources for artists on both sides of the equation: as a resource for materials but also as a place to donate our unwanted supplies, ensuring reuse instead of disposal. After much deliberation, however, I have decided to only list centers here that are open to the public for shopping.

There are a huge number of other centers that serve the educational and non-profit communities, providing low-cost resources for teachers. If you are an educator, or if you have materials to donate, I encourage you to look into those centers as well. There is a great list provided by the Reusable Resources Association, which is a group of over 100 non-profits "offering unique, unusual, open-ended materials, school supplies and educational training programs and workshops for teachers, children and parents." View their list of members here.

A few of the shops in this list appear to be open to the public but targeted at educators and families with small children, rather than artists in general. These are noted and included in italics.

I have also focused this list on reuse centers providing on materials for the creation of art, rather than building and architectural salvage. At the end of the list I've included links to some wonderful resources for building reuse and other types of reuse resources.

Beyond shopping, many of the centers listed here have party and educational spaces, and offer programming for educators and kids alike to come in and learn more about creative reuse. These are such a wonderful resources ...I don't know about you, but my heart beats a little faster when I look at the pictures of these places... that I'm sad to not yet have found one in my home state of NJ.

It is my goal to make this the most comprehensive list possible, so if you know of a shop that I've left on the list, please comment or send me an email!

CALIFORNIA

SCRAP Scrounge Center for Reusable Art Parts San Francisco, CA

East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse Oakland, CA

Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse Long Beach, CA

rediscover Los Angeles, CA

Art from Scrap Santa Barbara, CA


FLORIDA

Trash 2 Treasure Fort Lauderdale, FL

Florida Reusable Resources Network (Reusable Resources Association) Melbourne Beach, FL
There are currently 21 centers located throughout the state of Florida, which are networked through the Reusable Resources Association. Most of these shops are for educators only. I have highlighted two below which are also open to parents:

Reusable Resources Adventure Center Melbourne Beach, FL (family and educator oriented)

ReThink and ReUse Center Miami, FL (family and educator oriented)

GEORGIA

Creative Reuse Georgia (in development)

ILLINOIS

Creative Reuse Warehouse Chicago, IL


INDIANA

Material for the Arts Bloomington, Indiana
(designed to serve non-profits, churches, schools, and artists working on community projects)

Creative Resources Franklin, Indiana


KANSAS

Repurpose, iMagine, Create (RMC) Store, Wonderscope Children’s Museum Shawnee, Kansas


LOUISIANA

Recycle for the Arts (The Green Project) New Orleans, LA


MAINE

Everyone’s Resource Depot, University of Maine Framington, Maine


MASSACHUSETTS

Extras for Creative Learning Dorchester, Massachusetts


MICHIGAN

Arts and Scraps Detroit, MI

The Scrap Box Ann Arbor, MI

The Creation Station (Lansing, MI)


MISSOURI

St. Louis Teachers' Recycle Center (family and educator oriented)
Crestwood, MO, Chesterfield Mall, MO, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO, plus a traveling van!


NEW MEXICO

Wemagination Center Family Development Program, University of New Mexico (family and educator oriented)
Albuquerque NM


NEW YORK

The Hudson Valley Materials Exchange New Paltz, NY

Materials for the Arts Long Island City, NY

Materials Resource Center Ronkonkoma, NY Recycle Shop locations in Rochester, Lakeville and Newark, NY


NORTH CAROLINA

The Scrap Exchange Durham, NC

Trash, Inc. Asheville, NC

OHIO

Waste Not Center Columbus, OH

OREGON

MECCA Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts Eugene, Oregon

SCRAP School and Community Reuse Action Project Portland, Oregon


PENNSYLVANIA

Creative Reuse Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA

Lancaster Creative Reuse Lancaster, PA (in development)


TEXAS

Austin Creative Reuse Austin, TX (in development)

Texas Art Asylum Houston, TX

VIRGINIA

Stuff Richmond, VA



EU & UK

Remida: The Recycling Center Reggio Emilia, Italy

Scrap Creative Reuse Leeds, UK

National UK Scrapstore Directory a huge list of stores all around the UK (Thanks Lynsey!)

Re-circle Creative Reuse Center Brussels, Belgium (in development)

AUSTRALIA

Reverse Garbage Marricksville, NSW Australia

REmida Creative Reuse Centre, West Perth, Australia

OTHER RESOURCES

Great list of Architectural Salvage Shops by State

Another Awesome List of Reuse Centers (mostly Architectural / Building Materials) by State

Free Materials Exchanges and Salvage Yards

Habitat for Humanity REStore

Search for centers near you to recycle specific materials