Material Donations

All material donations are accepted by appointment. We do not accept donations when our center is closed to the public.

Mondays and mornings are our team's only times to catch up on processing material donations and tackle big projects around the center. Because of this, we're unable to take in new materials when we are closed to the public.

No. We kindly ask that potential donors respect our space and do not leave donated items outside of the center. Items left outside are subject to theft, rain, extreme heat, pests, and other elements — oftentimes leaving them unusable and requiring us to dispose of them. If you're truly hoping to keep these materials out of the landfill, please make an appointment to bring them.

Respectfully, no. On average, we receive 40,000 pounds of donations every month. While "someone could do something" with almost every item folks want to donate — and we would love to make that happen — we have to focus our efforts where we can make the most difference.

We strongly prefer that you bring your donation in a container that you will leave with us. We don't always have something readily available to transfer the materials into.

Austin Creative Reuse is proud to say that we have a 97% diversion rate, meaning less than 3% of the materials that come through our doors are sent to the landfill. We work hard to save every button, marble, and spool of thread that you give us. Many other reuse organizations throw away up to 30% of what they receive. Rest assured, your donations will find a great second life within the ACR community!

Awesome, thanks for asking! You can really help us out — and make us love you even more — if you organize your donations prior to bringing them in. Secure items that can tangle easily. Bag small, loose items (don't worry, we'll reuse the bags, too!). Bundle like items or items in a set/with multiple parts together. Taking the time to organize your donation means we can get it back into the hands of our community in minutes, not days.

We update our list of items we can and can’t take on a regular basis, depending on our capacity. Please review both lists of items we can and can’t take before you make your donation appointment, and email us at materials@austincreativereuse.org if you have any questions about a material that isn’t listed on either list. We’ll let you know if we can accept it!

If you bring a material to your donation appointment that is listed on our list of items we don’t accept, we reserve the right to turn the donation away. Thank you for your understanding!