You remember the 3 R's, right?  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Creative Reuse fits in between R2 and R3.

 

According to Wikipedia, "the waste hierarchy is a process used to protect the environment and conserve resources through a priority approach established in waste policy and legislation.[1] The hierarchy establishes preferred program priorities based on sustainability.[1] To be sustainable, waste management cannot be solved only with technical end-of-pipe solutions and an integrated approach is necessary."

 

Reuse is described as "...any operation where products or materials that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were intended" (emphasis added).  Hand-me-downs and thrift stores are examples of ways in which items can be reused.

 

Creative reuse is reusing items in a new way.  Another term for this process is upcycling.  So taking a torn up old blanket and turning it into a bag, or scrapping an old piece of electronics (say, an amplifier) and reusing its componants turning it into a new type of electronics (maybe a PA system) are examples of creative reuse.

 

Recycling "involves sorting and processing the recyclable products into raw material and then remanufacturing the recycled raw materials into new products."  The recycling process breaks items down much further than creatively reusing materials.  It requires more resources than creative reuse and is a less favored option in the hierarchy.

 

A creative reuse center is simply a place which has creatively reusable materials available for resale, sometimes only for teachers, and in other cases for the general public.  It can be run from someone's basement or can be as large as a 500,000 sq. ft. warehouse.  Some examples of items you might find in bulk at a creative reuse center include:  bottle caps, cardboard tubes, one-offs from businesses, carpet samples, and egg cartons.

 

You can learn more about creative reuse here.