Big Reuse’s mission is to fight climate change through equitable, community-based zero waste initiatives. Our reuse center, community composting program, street tree care program, and educational initiatives provide a diverse offering of climate-centered programs for our community. Our Big Reuse center in Gowanus transforms people’s ideas of reuse, turning waste into valuable community resources. Environmentally focused, it accepts more types of materials than other thrift stores. We’ve been at the forefront of a national composting movement, becoming a driving force for composting efforts across the city with our community-based approach to food waste. Our street tree care team organizes multi-generational street tree events and educational programming in partnership with community groups and K-12 schools, with a focus on disadvantaged communities (DACs).
We’ve built our programs with the goal of creating local sustainability models for climate-solutions that can be replicated citywide and in other communities, teaching and empowering residents to value and care for their own green infrastructure. Building a local compost application and street tree care network with community partners helps combat effects of climate change and connects organizations to support and learn from one another, expanding our impacts and developing best practices that fit our city.
We center our educational work on connecting the benefits of zero-waste practices directly with community needs, whether it be motivating people to compost by citing cleaner, rodent-free neighborhoods or gathering volunteers to consistently care for their street trees by explaining that healthy trees alleviate the urban heat island effect, save energy through increased shade, mitigate against floods, and improve air quality. Our work keeps millions of pounds of materials out of landfills each year and strengthens the resiliency of our lands and communities.
View our 2023 environmental impact report and annual report.