Step into the Scrap Exchange and you enter a place where a company’s trash can turn into your own personal treasure.

The Durham nonprofit collects discarded materials from factories and businesses and sells them to the public.

It operates out of a 13,000-square-foot warehouse in downtown Durham. Its mission is to promote creativity, environmental awareness and community through reuse, which it has been doing since it was founded 17 years ago.

And in these economic times when folks are looking for ways to save money or have fun on a tighter budget, the Scrap Exchange is seeing an uptick in customers.

“People get a lot more resourceful when they have less income or less money, so we’re a good place just to find very inexpensive materials for their arts program or any kind of program they’re doing,” said executive director Ann Woodward.

Woodward said not only can you save money and help the environment by purchasing reusable materials from the Scrap Exchange, you can also entertain yourself by browsing.

“It’s inspiring to come in here and look at thousands of different materials and sort of think about the possibilities of what each material could be.”

And if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to spend your afternoon, check out the Scrap Exchange’s Make and Take Room. For $5 you can use any of the materials that you find in the room " from ropes to ketchup cups " and make anything you want. Your imagination is your only limitation

There’s also an art gallery with exhibits that rotate monthly and a market that sells sustainable artwork by local artists.

The Scrap Exchange is open form 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

For more information log onto scrapexchange.org.

Related Links

1. http://scrapexchange.org