Back by popular demand! Join us for Reuse-a-Palooza at The Plant on Sun. Oct. 2 from 11am-3pm. This event will provide opportunities to donate gently used books, bicycles, and more; safely dispose tricky-to-recycle items; and learn about strategies to avoid waste and improve environmental conditions.

We’ll be joined by an amazing group of waste-reduction and repurposing enthusiasts focusing on approaches to purchasing and consumption that make good sense economically, environmentally, and socially. Our lineup of participating organizations will assist you in your quest to …

…. Reuse and responsibly recycle with Reduce Waste Chicago, EcoShip, EarthPaint, Working Bikes, Back of the Yards branch of the Chicago Public Library, and Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange

….Repurpose and create with THUG Hippie’s Creativity Bus (bring photographs to craft with) and the WasteShed

….Discuss and discover with PCs for People, the Chicago Tool Library, the City of Chicago’s Dept. of Streets & Sanitation, Cook County MEDS, and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Plus, Bubbly Dynamics and Nero Ink will be showcasing our in-house practices to refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle materials here at The Plant and at Bubbly.

>>> UPDATES: We will not be offering a repair clinic during this event though we can guide you to other resources, or put aside those beloved but worn clothing or broken household items until spring! Also, compostables will not be accepted; sorry to say that our partner had to cancel due to a staffing issue. <<<

Then keep discussing your waste-reduction resolutions and action plans over beers and delicious pizzas at Whiner's taproom, which will be open until 8pm. MeetStop by Ste. Martaen will be popping up in the taproom during the event for vegan comfort food; stay tuned for the menu and more info.

Items to be accepted for donation / repurposing / recycling (and where they’ll go) include the following, with additional items listed here:
- Alkaline batteries (Battery Solutions)*
- Art and office supplies for reuse; list of Most Wanted items is here (Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange)
- Bicycles (Working Bikes)
- Books, gently used (Back of the Yards branch of the Chicago Public Library)
- Cork used to seal wine bottles (used for crafting)
- Crayons, any brand/condition (SCARCE, Crayon Initiative)
- Electronics (small/handheld), cords, chargers (EcoCell, Elgin Recycling)
- Eyeglasses, usable; no sunglasses or cases (Lions Club, OneSight)
- Face masks, disposable, surgical (TerraCycle)
- Gym shoes past their useful life (GotSneakers)
- Jars, wide-mouth Ball or Kerr jars & lids, and tiny baby-food sized jars of any kind (Tinyshop)
- Keys, metal only; no key chains (sold as scrap)
- Mailers, bubble or poly mailers; remove labels, tape, private info (EcoShip)
- Office/school supplies, USED such as empty pens, mechanical pencils, markers, gluesticks, watercolor paint dispensers (TerraCycle)
- Packaging labeled for special processing through TerraCycle such as Tom’s of Maine, Burt’s Bees, and more — full list is here
- Paint, latex or oil-based/stains (EarthPaint; please see their fee schedule here) *
- Plastic cards - those annoying fake credit cards that come in the mail, old credit cards (cut-up!), gift cards (TerraCycle, or refuse those annoying plastic Comcast mailers by returning to sender; we’ll show you how)

*Small fees are requested or required to cover costs of recycling these items.

We also appreciate donations of the following new, in-package items to share with our neighbors:

- Food, fresh, unexpired food items (Love Fridge; see donation guidelines here)
- Personal care and household products, such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. (Back of the Yards branch of the Chicago Public Library, which houses a cart for folks to take what they need)

And since you’ve read this far, you’re clearly a waste reduction enthusiast! Would you consider volunteering for the event to help everything get sorted properly? Please contact us!