Celebrate spring with Reuse-a-Palooza at The Plant on Sun. Apr. 24 from 11am-3pm! This event will provide opportunities to repair clothing and household items, safely dispose tricky-to-recycle items, and donate bicycles, gently used books, and more, all the while bringing attention to strategies to reduce waste and improve environmental conditions. We’ll be joined by an amazing group of waste-reduction and repurposing enthusiasts with many strategies that encourage more sustainable approaches to purchasing and consumption.

Afterward, in partnership with the One Earth Film Festival, a free screening of the film Mottainai Kitchen, which explores a “zero waste kitchen revolution” during a road trip across Japan, will be presented. Program begins at 2:30pm, with the film rolling at 3pm sharp. Our own Carolee Kokola will be participating in the panel discussion to follow. The film and panel discussion will also be streamed as a virtual watch party for those who can't make it in person.

Then keep discussing your springtime resolutions and action plans over beers and delicious pizzas at Whiner's taproom, which will be open until 8pm.

Items to be accepted for donation / repurposing / recycling (and where they’ll go) include the following, with additional items listed here:
- Alkaline batteries (Big Green Box) *
- Bicycles! (Working Bikes)
- Books, gently used (Back of the Yards branch of the Chicago Public Library, Open Books)
- Cork used to seal wine bottles (ReCork) *
- 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)
- Food, fresh, unexpired food items (Love Fridge; see donation guidelines here)
- Food scraps & compostables (Star Farm)
- 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)
- Office/school supplies, NEW: pens, pencils, gluesticks, rulers, packs of crayons, 70-page spiral notebooks (Chicago Public Library, Sherman Park branch)
- Packaging labeled for special processing through TerraCycle such as Tom’s of Maine, Burt’s Bees, and more — full list is forthcoming
- 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 recycle these items.

… and if you’ve read this far, would you consider volunteering for the event to help everything get sorted properly? Please contact us!