The second R : Reuse

"The Three R's" is a phrase commonly used here at the MSU Surplus Store referring to reduce, reuse, and recycle. While reducing and recycling are pretty self-explanatory, reusing can a little less obvious. Fortunately, here at the Surplus Store we have a number of great products that are easily re-purposed for reuse.

Simply by shopping at the Surplus Store you are helping the cause of reuse, less then 1% of our goods are new. Additionally, we offer a great selection of items that can be re-purposed for new uses. While in most cases someone that buys a chair or desk is going to use it for its intended purpose, there are also many ways to take no longer needed products and re-purpose them for other uses. The possibilities are are only limited by your imagination, and one site superuse.org shows some of the amazing things that people have done with with the "trash" of others.

There is a wide range of projects illustrated on the site ranging from art to furniture - even cars if you are really ambitious. Some projects examples include:

• Turning a large cargo shipping container into an art sculpture
• Using flower pots as a wall
• Making a sofa made of a cast iron tub
• Creating table lights out of cassette tapes
• Employing pop bottles to make a coin purse
• Utilizing awnings from car windows and seat belts to make cushions

The are so many different ways to reuse old items both creatively and practically. The MSU Surplus Store is one of the best places to find all the oddities that you can use for different home and business projects.