Working with Lansing-based Freidland Industries, Old Town artist Tom Sheerin has started the SCRAP (Support Community Recycling Art Program) to get recycled products in the hands of area artists.
Anyone dropping off recycling materials at Freidland Industries on the corner of Maple and Center Street can ask that the proceeds from their recycled materials be 
used for the SCRAP program. Those participating in the program will use the funds for community art projects.
“I work with recycled material, or found object art, a lot,” says Sheerin. “I just couldn’t find the things I was looking for.”
A year ago, he started working with Freidland to find recycled materials for an art program he was doing with children. They decorated hubcaps and then placed them on a fence to brighten it up.
“I came to realize that I wanted to see this continued after I no longer run it,” he says. “I realized that if there was some initial funding in place, it could pay for someone to fill my spot.”
Eventually, Sheerin wants to place metal recycling bins in Lansing communities. His idea is that community members would decorate the bins and place metal items in them. The SCRAP program would then take the metal to Freidland and the proceeds would go toward community development.
Source: Old Town Commercial Association
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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