Charlene Catalano needs a ball of green-and-white yarn. Winter is coming. She’ll crochet a new scarf. 

Instead of patronizing a big box store (like Walmart or Michaels), she pops in to Brooklyn Creative Reuse. That’s in New York City, where she lives. She gets just what she needs—plus crochet kits, hooks, labels, and other bits. The final cost? Just $6. For everything. 

Don’t live in New York? You still might find a creative reuse store near you. The Brooklyn shop is one of hundreds of creative reuse centers across the United States and beyond. These stores exist to keep art supplies out of landfills. They sell used art supplies at deep discounts. Think of them like thrift stores for crafting.

Look for extra art supplies lying around your house. Have a pack of markers? A ream of construction paper? A half bottle of paint and extra brushes? Often, buyers end up with more supplies than needed for their projects. They may throw away the extra. Imagine paintbrushes falling apart in landfills. Imagine spray paint leaking harmful microplastics into soil. 

Now imagine this instead: Someone else uses up those supplies. Some reuse centers prevent thousands of pounds of materials from reaching landfills each month.

“Reducing waste is the first benefit,” says Julian Silverman. He’s a materials scientist at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. “But also, you can be more creative when you’re in a large warehouse and looking at things that you could not source yourself.” (By “source,” he means “find and buy.”)

Art can be an expensive hobby. And as artists become more serious about their work, expenses often rise. That’s why so many want to shop second-hand. A crafter goes to a reuse center. He needs few ribbons and fabric scraps. He can buy exactly that, instead of entire spools or bolts of material. Brooklyn Creative Reuse sells most supplies for just $3 per pound.

Why? God made us to make art . . . and to use resources creatively and responsibly.