National Reuse Day October 20th

National Reuse Day

The 5 R's of Sustainability

National Reuse Day is October 20th and it’s a day to celebrate reuse as a central tenet of sustainability. Reuse is a popular term now-a-days, and it’s one of the major “Rs” to help reduce waste. Refusing wasteful products and Reducing consumptive habits helps us prevent waste. Recycling and Rot, or compost, helps us process waste into new stuff. But Reuse is a pivotal behavior change that helps us develop resourceful and creative problem-solving skills, all while helping reduce waste.

Reuse!

Reuse has become a popular way for people to turn away from mass consumption and engage in helping make our environment cleaner, healthier, and sustainable for future generations. Creative reuse centers and repair cafés inspire communities to practice reuse and incorporate these habits into their daily lives. Communities come to understand the importance of extending the life of these items, and that sharing and reusing materials can help others in their community, too.

Creative Reuse!

Creative reuse centers, like SCRAP, collect discarded materials from the public, then process, organize, and resell these items to the public for a bargain or donate them to teachers, organizations or other groups for further reuse. Teachers, students, families, and creatives learn that materials can be reused and given new life while helping to reduce waste.

We at SCRAP want to celebrate National Reuse Day with all of you! Thanks to our communities of supporters, we have helped divert 72,139 pounds of usable materials from the waste stream between July 2019 and August 2020. These materials are processed and organized so our communities can benefit from creative reuse and education. From July 2019 to February 2020 we reached 8,072 kiddos and adults through our educational programming and are working on expanding our virtual programs!

Let us know what you’re doing to celebrate creative reuse!