Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse (PCCR) is reimagining waste as a resource for creativity and community building. PCCR collects unwanted materials from businesses and individuals, and transforms them into fuel for art, education, and innovation. At their shop in Point Breeze, teachers, artists, makers, and families can access project ideas and affordable supplies. PCCR also partners with dozens of other organizations to offer hands-on programs where people of all ages learn about sustainability and reuse through creative play.
Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse is the greater Pittsburgh area’s only creative reuse center where individuals and businesses can donate a vast array of unique materials that aren’t suitable for recycling, donating to a thrift store, or discarding.
By infusing creativity into the problem of waste, a fabric scrap can become a small stuffed animal, a design sample can become the base for a tiny trophy, and old art history slides can be combined to make an incredible lampshade. Materials that were once considered unwanted transform into the building blocks for new, innovative projects.
What began in 2007 as a labor of love, with a business plan and a borrowed van, has grown into a thriving and vital community resource.
Material Donations in 2016: 43 tons from 3,682 donations
- 20,536 pounds from 177 businesses
- 6,116 pounds from 77 nonprofits
- 59,439 pounds from 3,166 individuals
Total since 2007: about 217 tons
Individuals Impacted in 2016: 37,621
- 21,228 visits to center
- 12,544 participants in programs
- 3,682 material donors
- 167 volunteers and interns
Total since 2007: about 176,190
