Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
In the United States, more garbage is picked up on the first "trash day" after Christmas than at any other time. Of course, that's due to all the wrapping paper, ribbon, and cardboard and plastic packaging that people throw away after the holiday.
It seems such a waste to discard materials that can be reused or recycled, so in this issue of The Re-Source, we plan to focus even greater attention on the four Rs: rethink, reduce, reuse, and recycle.
We'll discuss how today's poor economy is affecting the sale of recyclables, and how you can help turn things around. In fact, we'll introduce you to someone who decided to personally do something about all the trash he generates.
You'll find some great online resources in our section about creative scrap exchanges, and speaking of creative, you'll see examples of beautiful art and fine crafts created by artists who reuse materials and exhibit their work in The Imagination Factory's Green Gallery.
If you're looking for some new art/reuse ideas, we have some wonderful book titles to recommend. Finally, be sure to check out the recipe for sawdust clay, and enter our latest contest to have a chance to win a great environmentally-friendly prize.
Pictured above is Cappi Phillips' mixed media assemblage entitled "Oh my deer, where did you get that dress?" The deer head is newspaper mache' covered with reclaimed objects, and the body is a re-purposed 1950's dress form that's enrobed in hundreds of silver plated spoons acquired at a yard sale. Cappi's work is featured in The Green Gallery. See more of her wonderful, repurposed creations at http://www.moesache.com/.
What's In This Issue
- Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recyc le
- Trashing Recycling
- What Can One Person Do?
- Sustainable Dave and 365 Days of Trash
- Creative Scrap Exchanges
- Art and Craft Books that Encourage Reuse
- Sawdust Clay
- Leftovers: Enter Contest
Winter 2008
Creative Scrap Exchange
In the fall newsletter, we gave you pointers on how to start a
creative scrap exchange in order to provide free and/or inexpensive materials to
people who need supplies for teaching art and crafts. One such facility, The
Little Red Schoolhouse, which is located in Columbus, Indiana, was featured. There are many more located throughout the world. Perhaps you live near one of the following exchanges, but even if you don't have access to them, the information posted at their Web sites may be helpful. Remember, reusing preconsumer and postconsumer waste keeps it out of landfills, and it saves disposal costs, natural resources, and energy.
Do you know of a creative scrap or materials exchange in your area? If so, please contact us, and we'll add the name to our list. The resources on the page linked to this newsletter has our current listings. Click here to go to the Scrap Exchange Resource page
Trashing Recycling
According to a New York Times piece that was published in December, 2008, the United States' economic downturn has had a tremendous, negative effect on the market for recycled materials like plastic, cardboard, metals, and newspapers. This is due to the fact that items such as cardboard are turned into boxes that package new goods, and metal is made into car parts.With a slowing in the economy and production down, there's no need for scrap. As a result, trash is piling up in the warehouses of recycling contractors. Many recycling centers have stopped accepting certain materials, so the main solution to the disposal problem is to truck items to the landfill. If prices for scrap continue to be low, more and more solid waste management facilities will be forced out of the recycling business.
What Can One Person Do?
While the three Rs used to stand for reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, today they refer to ways we can manage solid waste. We like to add a fourth “R,” so our list, in the preferred order of handling solid waste, reads like this: rethink, reduce, reuse, and recycle.Most people think of recycling as the main solution to the problem, but it's really the least desirable of the ways to manage solid waste. This is because recycling uses energy and natural resources to make new products.
The best method of managing solid waste is to rethink purchases. If you buy fewer things, there obviously will be less trash. The next way you can help control solid waste is to reduce consumption. For example, when making a small purchase at a store, you can ask the clerk to not bag the item, and just give you the receipt.
Reuse is the third most desirable way to manage solid waste. As you
can see by glancing at the long list of items in The Trash Matcher, art
activities featured at The Imagination Factory involve reuse. Finally, we come
to recycling, and while it's the least efficient way to manage solid waste, it
still beats burying stuff in the landfill. So, you see, even though recycling has fallen on hard times, there are still plenty of things you can do to help save energy, precious natural resources, and landfill space. Remember, rethink, reduce, reuse, and recycle, in that order.
Sustainable Dave and
365 Days Of Trash
If you're like most of us, once you put the trash out, you don't give it another thought, but have you considered what happens to garbage after it's buried in the landfill? You may think it decomposes, but without oxygen and water, it just lays there, mummified for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
The thought of not taking personal
responsibility for what he discarded bothered one California man so much that he
began an experiment to see just how much stuff he bought, used, and threw away.
Starting at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2008, Dave Chameides began a
project he calls 365 Days Of Trash. His experiment came to a close on New Year's
Day this year. In creating the project, Dave decided that he could control some of his wasteful habits by rethinking what he consumed in the first place, so he simply cut out some things. He thought about sustainability or using resources that can be replenished for future generations, and he saved items for recycling. Finally, Dave was left with the trash over which he had no control, so he collected it for disposal.
You may be wondering where he kept all this stuff! Well, if the waste could be composted, Dave fed it to the critters in his worm bin. Everything else went to the basement. Check out 365 Days Of Trash to see Dave's self-imposed rules of collection, photos of the trash, and to find answers to frequently asked questions.
While this is the end of his experiment, we have a feeling that it's really just the beginning of something bigger. In fact, you can visit Dave's new site, Sustainable Dave, for updates about his project. If you'd like to share how much trash you generate in a week or so, he's interested in hearing from you. Just contact him via one of his sites.
Thanks, Dave, for creating such a unique project. We hope others will be inspired by your example, and maybe parents, teachers, and kids will be encouraged to set up similar experiments at home and school.
