HUMBOLDT PARK — Chicago’s newest reuse center opened on the Northwest Side in September but the new storefront’s owner says the center can do a lot more with a little help.
The WasteShed recently launched a crowdsourced campaign to fund community arts and education in Humboldt Park. The campaign is keeping with its mission to collect a range of materials, upcycle them for affordable prices and save useable materials from the landfill, said Eleanor Ray, a decade-long “reuse nerd” and founder of The WasteShed.
The small Humboldt Park nonprofit, 914 N. California Ave., hopes to be a “hub for projects classes and activities relating to the intersection of art, education and the environment,” said Ray, 30.
And that’s where the shop’s IndieGogo campaign comes in: Ray said she plans to put the majority of her $15,000 goal toward her education program at The WasteShed.
Any amount contributed during its month-long run is set to go toward events like community workshops, hands-on youth classes, summer camps, artist residencies and an upcoming prototyping lab.
“All of these things are possible, and we're going to make them a reality,” Ray writes in her IndieGogo page. “As reuse nerds, we can assure you that we will make this funding go a long, long way.”
A wide array of new and recycled materials are regularly cycled through the donation-based reuse center, objects both hard to classify and immediately recognizable including: canvasses, frames, paintings and brushes, reams of paper, empty containers, over-large rubber bands, glues, oils, orange strips of plastic used in construction, textiles, model solar systems, corkboards, zipper pulls and all manner of big and small objects with no discernable purpose.
All of which are good, usable materials saved from an early trip to the landfill, Ray explained, pointing to a space in her shop where those same materials are turned into art and other supplies.
While similar reuse centers have supported the creative communities of many cities across the nation since the 1970s — notably SCRAP in San Francisco, The Scrap Box in Ann Arbor, Mich., and The Scrap Exchange in Durham, N.C. — there has been a great need for similar centers in Chicago since the Creative Reuse Warehouse on Maxwell Street closed in 2002, according to Ray.
The WasteShed is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
