What Does Reuse Look Like?

Room filled with surplus furniture, equipment and supplies

With ReCap, it depends on what you have.

For some schools, reuse means finding a new home for a desk, filing cabinet or office chair. In a lab, it might be a piece of specialized equipment or a case of glassware. The items are different, but the basic problem is the same: something that is no longer needed in one place may still be useful somewhere else.

That’s why ReCap programs can look so different from one another. Each is set up around the kinds of materials a school actually has to move, rather than around a single definition of surplus.

Those differences also change what success looks like. Furniture can add up quickly in pounds diverted, while smaller, higher-value items may have a much bigger impact on purchasing costs.

The results from three ReCap programs show how that can look.

JCCC Surplus Store jcccsurplus.jccc.edu

Johnson County Community College

JCCC’s Surplus Store, which primarily recirculates furniture, only launched in June, but it hasn’t taken long to make an impact. Already, 134 exchanges have kept 4,256 lbs of material in use and avoided more than $37,000 in purchasing costs.

Scots Surplus scotssurplus.macalester.edu

Macalester College

At Macalester, where furniture makes up much of the material being reused, the impact is easy to see on the scale. Just 73 exchanges through Scots Surplus have kept more than 5,700 lbs of material in use since December, while avoiding more than $40,000 in purchasing costs.

UAB Green Marketplace uabgm.uab.edu

University of Alabama at Birmingham

At UAB, the numbers look very different. Green Marketplace focuses on lab equipment and supplies – items that don’t necessarily take up much space or weigh very much, but can be expensive to replace. Since October 2025, 787 exchanges have avoided $278,203 in purchasing costs, while diverting 3,721 lbs of material.

See what ReCap could look like for you: Book a Demo

What Kintsugi Can Teach Us About Reuse

Kintsugi is the centuries-old Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer and gold.

Rather than hiding the cracks, kintsugi highlights them, making the repair part of the object’s story and often making it even more beautiful than it was before.

It’s a different way of looking at something that has been damaged. Instead of seeing a broken object as having lost its value, kintsugi recognizes that repair can actually add value.

There’s something in that idea for reuse, too. A second life doesn’t have to mean something is worth less. Sometimes, its history is part of what makes it valuable.

Kintsugi pottery being repaired with gold

Funding Reuse

Looking to launch a new reuse or waste-reduction initiative? Funding opportunities like these may help cover the cost of getting started with ReCap, Reuses, or one of our Student Reuse Portals.

Vermont Reduce Reuse Pilot Grants

Grants of $3,000–$10,000 are available for projects focused on donation, sharing, reuse and repair, including projects led by schools and colleges.

View Funding Details

CSU Sustainability Fund

Colorado State University students, faculty and staff can apply for funding for student-led or grassroots sustainability projects and pilot programs on campus.

View Funding Details

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What Does Reuse Look Like?

What Does Reuse Look Like?

What Kintsugi Can Teach Us About Reuse

Funding Reuse

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