A scrapstore is essentially like a sweet shop for crafters. That feeling a child gets (and to be honest, a lot of adults too) when they walk into a room filled with things that make them excited – that is how our scrapstore is described by those who visit us.
Essentially, a scrapstore is a collection of craft materials that have been donated, salvaged or collected from people who don’t want them. Unwanted scrap is diverted from being thrown away into landfill and instead recycled for craft projects. This repurposing of waste is both great for the planet and fantastic for crafters.
The types of things a typical scrapstore might sell include:
· Fabric, felt, material, wool, string, twine, leather, carpet
· Paper, card, wallpaper, packaging, wadding
· Boxes, tubes, containers, cups, bottles, crates
· Poles, rubber, tins, MDF, wood
· Stationery and tools
· Sponges, clothes, brushes, foam
· Odds and ends
Read more about what is crafting in our blog.
Where do scrap supplies come from?
Some scrapstores will take donations whilst others will work with local businesses to collect their unwanted, reusable waste. Striking a balance between filling your scrapstore with materials for reusing and stacking your shelves with rubbish is important so all incoming scrap is carefully sorted, checked, bundled and priced.
Rag Tag Arts for example collect unwanted items from local businesses for selling in the scrapstore. Items are either priced individually at nominal prices to cover costs, by the basket or by the trolley load. Specific examples of items donated could include carpet tiles from an office renovation, offcuts of lagging from local plumbers, old crates from supermarkets, offcuts of paper and card from printers or fabric samples from textile companies. The list is endless.
The old adage, one person’s scrap is another person’s treasure, most certainly applies to scrapstores as the items donated to us may seem like waste to those getting rid of them but for a printmaker or a patch worker these scraps are a much more affordable way to source materials for their crafts than buying new materials that are more expensive, covered in packaging and are only available in larger quantities.
Working with local businesses and being vocal amongst local communities is vital for the survival of scrapstores as they rely on donations to stock the shelves. This symbiotic relationship creates a circular economy that reduces waste and offers a sustainable and lower cost alternative to businesses for getting rid of their unwanted scrap.
The benefits of using a scrapstore
The benefits of using a scrapstore are many! Not only are they super enjoyable to visit for those who love crafting, but they often offer other activities that appeal to visitors, ensuring they come back time and time again.
Creative play
The term ‘loose parts play’ was coined by Simon Nicholson following a study he published in 1971. Basically, he suggests that the degree of inventiveness and creativity of kids is directly proportional to the number and type of variables involved. Variables meaning scrap materials, odds and ends, loose parts. Cue our scrapstore.
Not only do scrapstores like ours supply loose parts, deemed vital for harnessing creativity by Nicholson, but at Rag Tag Arts we have a dedicated loose parts play room where the only limits to what can be created are the materials we don’t have!
Scrapstores are great places to find creative resources for children for EYFS settings, schools, play groups and community groups enabling them to explore materials that have a multitude of purposes, beyond what we might conceive as adults.
Great for the community
Scrapstores typically work with local businesses to collect unwanted waste and sell this to the local crafting community for small fees. Many scrapstores, like ours, have other elements to them such as crafting spaces, craft workshops, loose parts play sessions and hold community events too. These services benefit businesses by reducing waste that they usually have to pay to dispose of. Makers and producers can find materials that are low cost and the scrapstores themselves can provide work and volunteer opportunities for local people – all of which are great for local communities as a whole.
Saves waste from landfill
Much of the material stocked in scrapstores might otherwise have gone to landfill. The odds and ends, scraps and containers may not have a purpose for a business anymore but might be valuable to someone wanting just one large sheet of acrylic or a few carpet tiles for packaging. Initiatives such as scrapstores that aim to save waste from being buried in the ground are good for the planet and help spread the message that reusing and recycling should be attempted before throwing things away.
Inspiration
Whether you’re a crafter or not, visiting your local scrapstore could inspire you to explore an activity you might not yet have tried. Maybe you’re looking for craft materials for your kids or scraps for a school project, but instead you come out with armfuls of crates that are going to tidy up a messy part of your wardrobe. You never know what you might find and this is the beauty of shops such as these.
Budget friendly
Scrap from a scrapstore will usually be much cheaper than buying the same resources new. In addition to this, buying new might involve buying more than you need and lots of packaging that you can’t recycle plus having to pay for delivery if ordering online. Buying the exact amount you need at a fraction of the cost of buying new is more sustainable, better for your wallet and doesn’t incur lots of waste – the opposite, in fact!
Regularly restocked
A well-run scrapstore will have a constantly changing stock of scrap. Repurposing materials, creating craft kits with them, running workshops and selling by volume all ensure that scrap is rotated regularly to make space for new materials and thus continuing this cycle of reducing waste.
The Rag Tag scrapstore
Rag Tag Arts opened its scrapstore doors in 2016 after brother and sister Josh and Emily had spent their childhoods visiting their local scrapstore in Wiltshire and decided to move to Kendal to set up shop here. You can buy a whole host of weird, wacky, wonderful scrap by the item, basket or trolley here. Stay and craft in our crafty café or head into the loose parts play room and let your imagination run wild. The scrapstore is run alongside a thriving events programme and as a Community Interest Company (or CIC) provides all sorts of opportunities for local people to get involved.
How you can support your local scrapstore
Scrapstores are great for the environment and great for creative projects of all shapes and sizes. There are a few ways you can lend your support to sustainable initiatives such as these.
1. Become a member
Scrapstores thrive when communities come together to reduce, reuse and recycle. Becoming a member of your local scrapstore will help them to create a database of like-minded individuals who can become customers, ambassadors or even volunteers. Signing up to membership might be free or may involve a small annual fee, but either way you’ll be supporting your local scrapstore by getting involved.
2. Visit the store
The easiest way to support your local scrapstore is to spend there! If you need materials to make homemade cards or jars for your jam, material to patch some jeans or yarn for knitting, head to your local scrapstore before looking online and support your local community.
3. Tell your friends
This might be the easiest way to support businesses such as Rag Tag but tell people about us! Tell them about what we do, what you bought here, the child’s party you attended here or the loose parts you played with. Promoting what we do to others can help lead to change for the better and more business for CICs like ours.