Scrap

Filling minds, not landfills

By Erika Weisensee
The Portland Upside
June 2009

What do old bottle caps, used tissue paper and out-of-date calendars have in common? They all find new life at SCRAP (School & Community Reuse Action Project). SCRAP was started about a decade ago when two teachers began passing on unused materials to other teachers at A Teacher Space, a resource center for educators in the Portland area.

The idea caught on in a big way, and today SCRAP, located at 2915 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., is an innovative non-profit store offering workshops, summer camps and a brand-new art gallery.

Simply put, SCRAP inspires people to think of new ways to use old things.

The organization is also dedicated to educating people about “reduce, reuse and recycle,” what Executive Director Kelley Carmichael Casey calls the “triumvirate” of sustainability.

“Reuse hasn’t gotten enough attention,” says Kelley. At SCRAP reuse is front and center.

SCRAP staff and volunteers teach people how to make useful things, even beautiful things, out of items that might otherwise go to landfills. At a values level, SCRAP challenges people to think differently about waste and consumption. The goal is for people to ask themselves, “What do I already have at home that can serve another purpose?”

Stocked with arts and crafts supplies and thousands of reusable items, the store is an ideal, budget-friendly resource for artists, teachers, and families looking for craft projects.
“SCRAP is for everyone,” Kelley says enthusiastically.

The store has traditional arts and crafts supplies like paper, paintbrushes, matting, frames, yarn and buttons. Yet it also sells unconventional items such as poker chips, old game pieces, metal doodads, computer parts, and old wire. When put to use creatively, these things find new life in fun projects and one-of-a-kind works of art. For example, SCRAP shoppers have transformed bottle caps into jewelry, robot eyes, and adornments for a menorah.

This sort of creativity combined with donations from community members helped divert 65,000 pounds of materials from local landfills last year.

“We get new donations all the time,” says Kelley. “So the store is new and fresh and interesting.”
Here’s a list of customer favorites sold at SCRAP: memory foam from the aviation industry, old logo travel coffee mugs, upholstery samples, duct tape, handmade Nepalese paper, cardboard tubes, X-rays, multi-colored drill-bit spacers, buttons, feathers, lenses of any kind, vintage ephemera, National Geographic magazines and slides. By making a tax-deductible, in-kind donation to SCRAP, people receive the satisfaction of keeping usable items out of landfills while providing creative materials to the community.

Right next to the store, a workspace encourages people to do projects on-site.

“You can pick out your materials, do your project, and then only pay for what you’ve used,” explains Kelley. With scissors, adhesives and glue guns, glitter, plenty of room, and a sink for cleaning up, it may even be more convenient than doing the project at home.

SCRAP’s new RE:Vision Gallery, located in space just off the store, is another source of inspiration for casual crafters, artists and art lovers, and anyone concerned about the environment. All art displayed at Re:Vision must include at least 75% reused materials.

“SCRAP both provides the materials and shows the art,” explains Volunteer Resources Manager and Arts Program Coordinator Bethany Moore. “The idea behind the gallery is to show people that SCRAP materials can be used for fine art.”

The gallery opened May 9th with “New Beginnings,” a collection of reuse art featuring creations by 11 local artists. The diverse show included a paper bird sculpture made out of old maps, reused photography framed in an antique window, and various pieces composed of things like broken doll parts, rulers, old books, reclaimed wood, metal and wire. Beginning June 5th, the United Plastic Quilt Project exhibition by the Leave No Plastic Behind organization will fill the space.

SCRAP is open Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. SCRAP is closed on Monday and Tuesday. This summer the organization is offering four separate weeks of summer day camps for children ages 6 to 12.
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For more information, visit www.scrapaction.org

Erika Weisensee is a writing mom. She lives in Milwaukie and teaches writing at the University of Portland.