this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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zerowaste
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Discussing ways to reduce waste and build community!
Celebrate thrift as a virtue, talk about creative ways to make do, or show off how you reused something!
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I'm hopeless with wood scraps - I can't throw anything out. We burn wood for heat in winter so I put small pieces in the kindling stack, but the various racks and shelves I've built are overflowing and I have a huge pile on the floor next to my table saw. And it's not even good wood - it was either hardware store building lumber or recycled from something else before it became an offcut and I still can't throw it out.
Maybe you can inform people around you that you have extra wood in case they need some. It won't empty your stock but from time to time you could get rid of some and help someone.
Seconding this! I also keep an eye out on my local Buy Nothing group, and offer up wood scraps when I see someone looking for something I have. It helps keep folks from buying new and if I need it in the future, chances are someone else will have a replacement for me. (I also get a lot of lumber this way).
I've given away stair treads, particleboard sheets, plywood, and dimensional lumber, sometimes cut or milled to whatever dimensions they need. I even used my scraps and part of a table to build a saddle stand for someone who was looking for a suitable piece of furniture for displaying a saddle once!