Orinoco is a Scrapstore - We offer a useful and beloved service to Oxfordshire by accepting materials otherwise going to waste and selling them in our store or putting on workshops in the community to harness the arts, play and creativity and encourage reuse and the repurposing of resources.
Our moto is "Play, Create, Decorate." Through our Scrapstore, events, education work, partnerships and networking we endeavor to extend the life of materials and goods and make them available at reasonable prices to charities, arts and craft groups, schools/education faculties, children’s groups etc.. and anyone who wants to be creative. Thus providing affordable materials for all. Or in other words, we believe that “there is no such thing as waste, only materials that are in the wrong place!”
In 2018 we have had an estimate of 6000 people visiting our shop some of whom have been known to travel up to thirty miles to access our resources. We have entertained over 800 children in our Playday messy play workshops just this year!
Of the 1600+ memberships we have issued since starting the membership scheme, 191 have been organisational memberships covering the full range from schools, clubs, children’s centres, play groups, theatre groups, afterschool clubs, charitable organisations such as refugees and homeless charities to mental health to housing charities and also some businesses.
Our key missions are to:
Reduce waste :We believe that there is no such thing as waste, only materials that are in the wrong place! (https://music.formidablevegetable.com.au/track/no-such-thing-as-waste)
Provide affordable resources to a wide range needs: Opening our doors to and developing partnerships with charities, craft groups, schools and children’s groups, as well as individual customers, to provide affordable materials for all.
Support the playful, creatives and makers amongst us:Raising awareness and inspiring people about the creative potential of waste through our resources, education work and events.
In order to achieve our mission, Orinoco encourage the reuse and repurposing of resources by selling items donated by businesses and individuals at very reasonable prices in our scrapstore (making creative projects affordable to everyone and providing teachers and people that work with children affordable and unusual resources).
The Scrapstore contributes to the generation of less waste in the waste or recycling streams and during 2017 we diverted more than 6 tonnes of waste from waste streams through reuse.
Orinoco also run children’s creativity events in conjunction with other charities, such as the Oxfordshire Play Association. These Playday objectives are to provide space and materials for children aged 4-16 to build creative structures and learn about the value waste can have and the concept of extending the life of materials and resources.
