Really ReUseful

Reuse to the Max

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 21:09:00 +0000

I am not a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, but I recently found myself riveted by video highlights from a Paris Fashion Week show. The designer who caught my attention was 10-year-old Max Alexander. Max is a fourth grader originally from Colorado and currently living in Los Angeles. Max has an artistic soul, a supportive family, and a huge social media following. They have their own design label ("Couture to the Max") and became a Guinness World Record holder for the youngest runway fashion designer in 2023 after participation in Denver Fashion Week.

Max shares my interest in sustainability and reuse. The 15 dresses featured at the Paris show were created from materials that were either inspired by nature (and thus, plant-based and biodegradable), or upcycled vintage or surplus fabrics. Check out a reel showing some highlights from the show with explanations of the materials used at https://www.facebook.com/reel/1919297572057397.

Read more about Max in this piece from CBS News Los Angeles and visit their website at https://maxalexander.shop/, where you can find links to their social media accounts.

Ideas for textile reuse for International Day of Zero Waste (March 30)

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 03:01:00 +0000

Photo by AlejoReinoso on Unsplash

The International Day of Zero Waste, observed on March 30^th annually, is jointly facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). The day highlights the importance of waste reduction, sustainable materials management, and responsible consumption and production as part of sustainable development.

This year’s theme is “Towards zero waste in fashion and textiles.” In 2018, the U.S. EPA found that nearly 17 million tons of textile waste were generated nationwide, with 11.3 million of those tons going to landfills (3.2 million tons were combusted; see link to reference under “Learn more” below).

If you’re reading this blog on reuse, you’re likely the sort of person who donates clothes they no longer want or need to local charities or thrift stores, and you may well shop for clothes at thrift stores too. Those are excellent ways to extend the useful life of textiles and keep them out of landfills. But here are a few other ideas for reuse and repurposing of textiles that you could try out in the spirit of International Day of Zero Waste.

Host a clothing swap

Like thrifting, but without the buying part. Groups of friends, family, or community members come together with clothing they no longer want, and feel free to take items that other participants have brought, free of charge. This can be a nice chance for socializing, gives everyone’s wardrobe a refresh, and saves everyone money while keeping useful items out of the waste stream. See links in the “Learn more” section below for advice on planning your own.

You might even add a repair component to your event if one or more of your participants are handy with a sewing machine or needle and thread. That way, clothing in need of minor repairs (e.g. replacing buttons, patching small tears, hemming, etc.) can still be part of the exchange or can make its way back into use by the original owner.

Turn your old textiles into cleaning rags

I’m not going to pretend I don’t still use paper towels for some cleaning, especially with a cat in the house, but whenever possible, I like to use cloth rags made from old clothes or items that are simply reused as-is once they’ve outlived their original purpose. For example, my kids are young adults now, but I still use some of the baby washcloths, burp cloths, and even cloth diapers from their infancy. The absorbency of the cloth diapers make them great for cleaning up spills, and washing them in this stage of their product lifecycle is certainly a lot less of a hassle than it was when they were still swaddling baby bottoms! I also cut up pants and shirts that are too worn for donation. I honestly don’t bother to hem the edges and cut mine with normal scissors, since a little fraying around the edges of a dust rag doesn’t bother me. But if you’d like neater edges, or want to make your rags more durable, you can stitch around the cut edges, or cut your old garments down to size using pinking shears.

Make a quilt—even if you’re not crafty

I have fond childhood memories of cutting up old clothing into squares while visiting my grandmother. She was a whiz with a sewing machine, and was always repurposing her own old clothes, and those from her kids and grandkids, into useful items, including quilts (she sewed quilt tops on her standard sewing machine and took those to a professional service with a special longarm machine for the quilting itself). I still have a quilt she made me, and I gaze at the squares sometimes, imagining the dresses or blouses they once were. I wish that I had made the time to learn how to machine quilt from her, and I tell myself that when I have more spare time, I’ll try out crazy quilting by hand. If you’re skilled the way my grandma was, try your hand at making a nice blanket or throw from your unwanted textiles. If you’re more like me and either don’t have the skills, time, or both, there are services to help you out (see links below for a few examples). These services will take that stack of concert t-shirts that don’t fit you anymore, or the school shirts from your high school and college days, or other items you no longer wear but can’t let go of for sentimental reasons, and turn them into a useful blanket full of memories.

How do you repurpose textiles? Are there craft ideas you could share? Do you have favorite textile products that reduce waste, or items made from recycled fabrics? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Learn more

https://www.unep.org/events/un-day/international-day-zero-waste-2025
US EPA Textiles: Material Specific Information: https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/textiles-material-specific-data
Southern Living: 4 Tips For Throwing A Successful Clothing Swap
Almost Zero Waste: How To Host A Clothing Swap Party: Step-By-Step Guide
Marissa Elena: Simple Ways To Mend Your Clothing Without A Sewing Machine
Project Repat: https://www.projectrepat.com/. Be sure to check out the interesting origin story of this company!
Quilts by Big Wes: https://www.bigwes.com/
Quilt Keepsake: https://www.quiltkeepsake.com/
Check out my recent post on the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center blog on this topic (not focused exclusively on reuse).

ICYMI: Celebrate International Zero Waste Day, March 30, 2024

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 19:23:00 +0000

This past Saturday was International Zero Waste Day. To raise awareness, I wrote the following post on Really Reuseful on Medium, highlighting a few of my favorite ways to reuse, and thus reduce waste, in my own home. Check it out at https://medium.com/really-reuseful/celebrate-international-zero-waste-day-march-30-2024-b555745836c7?sk=8c9ce1cbc78151e81a72779ae90c9974.

Content being republished on Medium

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 02:45:00 +0000

Hello readers! I'm renewing my efforts to share content about reuse via this blog, but from July 2023 forward, new posts will also appear on Medium at https://medium.com/really-reuseful, in an effort to reach a wider audience. This Blogger site will persist primarily as an archive of older content and so I can maintain the functionality of adding posts to topical categories (something you can't do in the same way on Medium). I hope you'll connect with me on Medium if you're a member! You can also connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Update: Starting in 2025, I won't be using Twitter very much, though for now I plan to maintain my account. Look for me on BlueSky.

Reuse Artist Gifts 'Betty Bottletop' Sea Turtle Sculpture to Restaurant in Brunei

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

See the full story in The Star: https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2020/06/07/betty-bottletop-highlights-importance-of-recycling-in-brunei

"Tobias Tahal, who is a carpenter and a skilled jewelry designer, put his skills to good use, making use of the discards that had washed up along the shores of Panaga. The art piece, which highlights the importance of recycling, took two months to complete. A total of 749 bottle caps, 16 flip flops, and 10 plastic bottles were used to create 'Betty Bottletop.' "

Tabal collected trash from the beach to create the sculpture. He presented it Ricardo's Catering for display. The cafe owner "hopes it will inspire visitors to do more with items collected from beaches. 'It also helps teach the younger kids about recycling, reusing and avoiding wastage,' she said."

Community Screening of The Story of Plastic

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 16:44:00 +0000

There's still time to register for the Champaign-area community online screening of The Story of Plastic. Upon registration you'll receive an email with a link to view the film online, as well as a link to participate in a Zoom panel discussion later this evening (June 10, 2020).

From the Champaign County Environmental Stewards (CCES) Facebook Event:

'This film exposes the extent of plastic waste and the effects it has on the local and global environment, climate, justice, and health.

About this Event
Champaign County Environmental Stewards (CCES), Food and Water Watch-Midwest, and the Prairie Group of the Sierra Club Illinois Chapter are teaming up to bring you an important film. "The Story of Plastics" brings into focus an alarming, man-made crisis, and the heroes who work every day to tackle the problem. You can be part of the worldwide movement to #BreakFreeFromPlastic: storyofplastic.org @brkfreeplastic.

Please RSVP at the link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-story-of-plastic-tickets-108142998620

You will be invited to a screening of “The Story of Plastics" and a panel and Q&A discussion on Zoom after the last screening on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 7:00 pm central time.

Screenings will become available 48-72 hours before the panel discussion when you will receive an email with two links: one to access “The Story of Plastics" screening, and one to access the Zoom panel discussion, which will be held after the last screening. We will send both links to the email you used to respond to the RSVP.'

My personal reactions: If you've never seen images of the magnitude of the plastic waste problem, I encourage you to view this film. I'm quite familiar with such images, and I was aware that products are packaged differently in different countries with different laws, and I knew plastic sachets were an issue, but this film does a good job of illustrating just how much of an issue they are elsewhere in the world. For me, it underscores that although there are companies that 'do the right thing' because it's in line with their organizational values, it's all too often the case that corporations will do the bare minimum to comply with regulations. In other words, environmental regulations matter a great deal. As citizens, we should appreciate those which we have and make sure our elected officials know that we support such regulations and will NOT accept their being rolled back. As an individual, I'm disgusted that manufacturers willfully sell all manner of products (e.g. shampoo, dish soap, laundry soap, etc.) in single-use sachets that are meant for daily use, not just for travel-sized options or for single portions of condiments. It's irresponsible and unjust to inflict such waste upon certain countries and not others. In general, although there are applications in which plastic will always make sense (e.g. some medical equipment, items that are meant to be durable in certain conditions, etc.), our society needs to step away from single-use plastic as much as possible, and think more carefully about reusable packaging options.

Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 04:30:00 +0000

It is the evening of April 21^,2020 as I write this—the eve of the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day—and two things are on my mind. First, today would’ve been the 107^th birthday of my “Grandma Scrogum” (Vernice Scrogum, née Fuller) if she had not passed many years ago while I was still a college student. I always puttered around outdoors as a child, observing plants and animals closely, but Grandma Scrogum was the woman who taught me how to garden. She showed me how to plant seeds, tend and harvest crops, the names of so many plants, and how to really enjoy getting dirt under my nails. She wasn’t the only person to influence my connection to other species by a long shot (my mother, for instance, ingrained in me a deep compassion for other animals), and I’m not sure what she ever thought of Earth Day, or what she might have made of my career in sustainability. But I’ve always felt it a little appropriate that my gardening grandma had a birthday adjacent to a day meant to celebrate the environment which nourishes and provides for us all. Her birthday is how I learned to remember the date of Earth Day as young environmental advocate—first comes grandma’s birthday, and the next day is Earth Day.

Secondly, I’m preoccupied by the same thing so many other human inhabitants of Earth are in 2020—the COVID-19 pandemic. The need to practice social distancing means that many celebrations of this 50^th Earth Day which were months in the making have been cancelled. Normally people would gather together outdoors to honor the environment and our connection to it by, well gathering in nature and connecting to it together. So right off the bat, this Earth Day is like none before. In the midst of our response to this public health threat, there is understandably a lot of fear and stress. It’s probably true that households are generating more waste than they otherwise would have, as folks clean more, use and discard items they might normally have used infrequently or not at all (e.g. bottles from hand sanitizer, gloves, etc.), and dispose of some items they might previously have recycled either out of an abundance of caution, or because they don’t have space in their dwelling to store items they might normally have taken to recycling drop-offs or donation collection points. There’s a lot of uncertainty and a keen sense of fragility as people worry about being able to acquire what they need, whether that’s food, safe medical care, a paycheck, a hug from a loved one, etc.

But despite all this turmoil—in fact, perhaps because of it—I want to share with you the lessons I take away from this amazing point in history, this 50^th Earth Day during a pandemic. These are big ideas, and a little difficult to express, but bear with me as I try my best.

Lesson 1: Everything is connected. I’m an ecologist by training, so thinking about everything in terms of interconnected and interrelated systems is natural to me, but its abstract for many. People have a lot of things to think about on any given day—bills, work deadlines, making sure kids are doing their homework, making dinner, household chores, etc. Our most immediate concerns within a narrow sphere of interactions with family, friends, and coworkers dominate our minds. When environmental advocates or sustainability professionals talk about polar ice caps melting, the plight of a species of gecko you’ve never heard of, or the working conditions faced by other humans in a far off country-- or even in your home town but outside that sphere of immediate personal connections--you might feel like smiling politely and indulgently at their “sweet natures” or maybe scoffing and rolling your eyes. Wherever you fall on that spectrum of reactions, odds are you basically dismiss the cries for urgent attention to things that don’t directly and immediately effect you, because you’ve got other things to do and think about. But this pandemic is making the abstract concept of interconnection vividly concrete. The plight of someone in another country can quickly become a problem in your hometown. An inflexibility in a food supply chain that you never considered before can result in the shelves at your local grocery store lying bare. Reckless behavior by a few individuals can endanger the safety of a large population and counteract responsible behavior by a majority. This understanding of the importance of actions and events seemingly distant or removed from us, is a good thing, a silver lining amongst all the anguish. Responding to complex problems can be hard for humans because it’s hard to wrap our heads around that concept of interconnected parts of the systems of life on Earth. But for the next several decades, a concrete example of the interactions, for better or worse, of far flung parts of global environmental, economic, and cultural systems will be within our collective living memory. That will serve us well as we face the next pandemic, natural disaster, instance of “man’s inhumanity to man,” impacts of climate change, or other large scale, complex problem thrown our way. We’ll have already gotten over the first mental hurdle to figuring out a solution—understanding that things seemingly far away in time or space can be important right here and right now.

Lesson 2. Living with Interconnectedness in mind (aka systems thinking) results in strength and resilience. Some folks might say, “Well great, Joy. Everything’s connected, so we’re doomed! You’re telling me that it makes sense that a problem far away from me can become a threat right here where I live, a threat to me and my family! How can that possibly be a good thing? In fact, we should probably cut any ties we have power over. We should close our borders forever, stop interacting with anyone outside that immediate circle of family, friends, and coworkers, and just become closed off and self-reliant.”

No, I say in response, you’re panicking and letting your fear prompt you to make bad decisions. I understand why—realizing how interconnected everything is makes you think about how vulnerable we are to disruptions in our system, no matter where those disruptions are. But you need to remember that what makes us truly vulnerable is not the interconnection itself, but rather, living as if interconnection does not exist—in other words, the way human societies tend to operate, as if we are apart from a system rather than a part of one. It’s because too many people thought “oh that illness effecting vulnerable subsections of the population, or on the other side of the world won’t impact us” that responses weren’t quick enough and strict enough to contain the spread of COVID-19. Too many people thought of this as an external problem rather than realizing its reality as internal to our interconnected system of life on Earth. Nobody wants to think that something frightening might impact them, but it’s the delay in considering that the “scary whatever” could be a threat to you that’s the real problem, more so than the “scary whatever” itself.

I can give you an example from my own life—I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 28. I felt a sharp pain and found a lump and knew how serious that could be. So I went to doctors and asked for a mammogram. At first everyone tried to convince me that I was overreacting, that it must just be a cyst, that I was too young to be really at risk, etc. I persisted though, and long story short, it turned out that lump wasn’t a cyst or even a tumor itself, but the blot clot that formed when an aggressively growing cancer tore through a blood vessel. I went through chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, and lived to give birth to two beautiful kids and be a middle-aged lady at this point. Cancer was a definite threat to my life. But the bigger threat would’ve been to delay my response out of fear or a false sense of security. If I had allowed myself to think, “oh this couldn’t be cancer,” I’d have died before reaching my 29^th birthday, no exaggeration. Cancer might have killed me in any case, but the failure to respond absolutely would have. The moral is interconnection means we’re vulnerable, sure. But what makes us more vulnerable is denial of our vulnerability, because denial keeps us from responding quickly and adequately to a systemic threat. When we’re conscious of our vulnerability and accept it, then we’re empowered to react in ways that will increase the likelihood of positive outcomes. We can’t live in a perfect bubble where threats don’t exist, but we can be better prepared to respond and survive simply by knowing there’s no such bubble.

Further, embracing interconnection—or rather, thinking and acting with the system in mind--makes us resilient and better able to address threats, not the false idea that we can cut ourselves off from the rest of the system. Let’s consider a few examples from our current pandemic. Think of the actions of people making masks in their own homes for people they’ve not met and never will. Think of people from all over the country, all over the world, donating money to help ensure others have access to food or medical care. Think of people doing what they can to support local businesses that are struggling because they can’t be open, or because their operations are greatly curtailed. Those positive occurrences are the result of people understanding their place in a broader system and acting on that to combat the disruption and make the system a little more stable. We need each other, now more than ever, even if we can’t be physically together. We’re still together within the system of life on Earth, and we depend on each other’s support.

Also, think about some of the challenges we’re facing right now. A lack of adequate PPE, for example. I see this as a symptom of a culture that doesn’t think about the long term and doesn’t design products that are meant to last, because we forget about interconnection. The masks widely used to protect against contagions like the novel coronavirus are, for the most part, disposable. That’s fine in a perfect, stable world where there are always more resources to make new disposable products, and a perfect production system that can scale up to make as many masks as we need at any time, and distribute them as quickly as they might be needed to wherever they’re needed. But we don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a real, imperfect, dynamic system where conditions change and are often unpredictable, and where seemingly unrelated parts of the system impact each other in ways both subtle and dramatic. If we were adequately conscious of that then maybe we would predominantly manufacture masks designed to be easily sanitized and reused indefinitely, and we would only produce disposable ones as a back-up, to use during unforeseen circumstances when our supply of reusable masks was inadequate. Reusable masks are currently made, but they’re cumbersome, expensive, uncomfortable to wear, and off-putting or frightening from the perspective of patients. So, they’re the exception rather than the rule. I could expound upon the need for medical devices and other products that are easy to repair with readily available repair information, but this is already a long post, and that could be fodder for a separate discussion. Suffice it to say, we’ve been operating as if the world would remain stable, but that’s just not how real systems work. Interconnections mean systems are dynamic—they change, sometimes quickly and radically. We need to plan our operations and design our products with that dynamic reality in mind, so that when disruption occurs—we are flexible and can adapt and respond adequately.

Lesson 3. We are small parts of the system, but all parts of a system have power. At first, when you recognize that you’re just a small part of a complex system of interconnected parts, that can feel so overwhelming, and you might feel powerless in the face of the magnitude of it all. But here’s the seemingly paradoxical beauty of systems. Even changes to a tiny part can have impacts that ripple through the entirety of the system. Think of it this way—have you ever taken something apart, like a watch, or small appliance, or tried to assemble a piece of furniture you bought, and found that you misplaced a part or that a part wasn’t included and just couldn’t get the device to work again or to go together right in the first place? A tiny screw, a little piece that isn’t there, or maybe is there but has been put in the wrong place-- and the whole thing either doesn’t work at all or doesn’t work as well as it could. The point is small things matter when interconnections exist. Those people I mentioned earlier, making masks for others whom they’ve never met. Individually, they’re each small parts of a large and complex system, but their small, individual acts could be a matter of life and death for the folks who receive their handiwork. And collectively, lots of seemingly insignificant individuals are working together to do truly significant things. For goodness’s sake, your deciding to stay home during this crisis is a relatively small, simple act, which could save lives. On this Earth Day, we are seeing how small changes on an individual level can collectively have global impacts. Don’t forget that power. Your actions matter. You are not powerless in the face of a large, complex problem. We all can do something positive to foster the well-being of the whole.

Happy Earth Day, my fellow Earthlings. Let’s live everyday like it’s Earth Day—like we’re all connected, that this connection is a strength as much as it is a vulnerability as long as we understand and accept it, like all of our actions matter, and like we’re all in this together.

Reuse Artist +Brauer Featured in Waste360

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 23:30:00 +0000

The December 14, 2018 Waste360 includes the article "NEW Artist Sees the Beauty in Forgotten 'Junk'," which highlights the work of the Paris-based artist known as +Brauer, a graphic designer who has created "numerous album covers for French and international artists and pursued his personal artistic expression through painting, photography and sculpture."

The article explains: 'According to the artist's site, +Brauer carefully chooses vintage objects that have an industrial past, that are marked by time and whose patina have been molded by years of manual use. He admires the beauty, sometimes hidden, of these discarded industrial parts, alters their appearance, sculpts them and incorporates light sources into their structure before assembling the parts together to create a unique and poetic piece. The site also notes that right from conception, the element of light is an integral part of the artwork: each robot is designed to interact with its environment in a different way whether it is turned on or off. 'Each piece is a statement of poetic resistance to mass consumption,' according to +Brauer. With his Plastic Icon series, the artist turns to plastic, a material threatening the planet. Every second, plastic is dumped in the oceans, more than 100,000 marine mammals die every year and if the world goes on like this, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050, explains +Brauer.'

Check out the Waste360 article for a slideshow of some of +Brauer's work, including some awesome robots and mosaics made from found plastic objects. Learn more on the artist's web site. The "Books" section of the site, listing books in which the artist's work is featured, has just added to my already too-long Amazon wish list and Goodreads "Want to Read" lists. You can also follow +Brauer on Facebook, as I've just done. I look forward to lots of adorable upcycled robots in my news feed!

From the Plastic Icon series by +Brauer.

This one's called Tom. Image from +Brauer's web site.

Need a Winter Coat? Consider Refurbished Clothing from Patagonia or the North Face

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Sat, 17 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I'm not a huge fan of snow, especially when I have to shovel it. Yesterday morning as I tackled the first "shovel worthy" snow fall of the season, I was grateful for warm socks and my hooded winter coat.

Luckily my kids, who are super tall and still growing, have not outgrown their winter coats from last year, so I haven't had to go coat shopping recently. But if you or members of your family are in the market for a "new" coat or other outdoor gear, and don't have any luck finding the right size at your local thrift shop, you might consider buying a refurbished item.

Working on sustainable electronics related projects for my day job over the past several years, I'm used to explaining the term "refurbished" as it relates to electronics. Refurbished electronics, such as my own refurbished laptop, are typically items that have been returned for some reason to a manufacturer or vendor. They may not have been used and are therefore essentially new, or the may have had some defect. Not all refurbished items are returned by customers; sometimes they're items that simply weren't sold, or no longer being pushed to vendors because a new product has been released. Sometimes they are functional items or those with minor performance issues that have been collected via a recycling program by an IT asset management firm. Whatever the case, they are repaired if necessary, and tested for proper functionality to meet original factory specifications before they are resold. That's what sets a refurbished electronic device apart from something is simply used. There's a quality control factor that gives you more peace of mind that you could hope for by shopping for a cheap device on eBay or Craigslist. Because refurbished items are not new--even if they never were actually used by a consumer--they cannot be sold as new despite being assured of functioning like a brand new item. Thus, they tend to be sold a discounts. I'm always advising people to check for refurbished options when they need to buy a device because it saves money and keeps products in service for longer, thus saving the resources invested in manufacturing.

Similarly, refurbished clothing is that which has been collected and repaired so it meets the standards of new items. Patagonia has long offered a clothing repair service to its customers, as well as repair and care guides on its web site. In April 2017, they launched a take back service, providing store credit in exchange for unwanted Patagonia clothing turned in at their retail locations. Items that can be repaired are, and those items are resold through the company's Worn Wear line at discounted prices. Note that the Worn Wear line includes all sorts of clothing, not just coats and other outerwear.

In the summer of 2018, The North Face followed suit and launched its The North Face Renewed product line, comprised of refurbished clothing from returns or defects. Again, discounted prices are a bonus for doing your part to extend product life cycles.

Considering the fact that 85% of textiles end up in landfills, any program that facilitates the repair and reuse of clothing is a great idea in my book. As you shop for holiday gifts or in general seek to keep yourself and loved ones warm this winter, shopping for refurbished clothes can be a great idea for your pocketbook too.

October 20 is International Repair Day and National Reuse Day

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 19:22:00 +0000

October 20th is National Reuse Day!!! Happy reusing! As described in an article from yesterday's Waste 360, "The day helps raise awareness about how much material Americans waste and how buying, using or donating reusable, reclaimed and remanufactured products can make a difference." Their article includes a slide show with ideas for ways you can incorporate reuse into your everyday life. (Though I would argue that composting is NOT reuse of food but rather recycling it; food donation, repurposing leftovers, using food scraps that weren't used in one recipe for a different one--THAT is reuse. Composting is important, it's just not the first thing one should do with food that is unwanted or unneeded, unless that food has already spoiled.)

Sadly there's really not much information available online regarding National Reuse Day, which the Reuse Alliance worked have recognized--not even on the Reuse Alliance web site. Austin, TX seems to take it seriously, extending their celebration throughout this entire weekend, as noted in this article from KXAN, Mayor Adler to announce sixth annual Reuse Day.

This day meant to encourage people to reuse is vastly overshadowed by America Recylces Day, which is coming up on November 15. That's sad not just because I clearly love reuse if I have an entire blog devoted to it; it's sad because reuse is a strategy one should always try to employ BEFORE recycling in order to make the most out of the "embodied resources" that have gone into the production of goods we use. A great deal of energy, water, and human labor goes into product manufacture and distribution, not to mention the extraction of materials from the natural environment (or their creation in a lab if the materials are synthetic). Even more resources go into the distribution of materials and completed products. While recycling is certainly important, if we can reuse an item or material before it is broken down into a state that can become feed stock in a new manufacturing process, we will be using our resources even more wisely.

But I take some comfort in the fact that October 20, 2018 is also the second annual International Day of Repair, and that is getting a bit more attention thanks to repaid advocates like the good folks at iFixit, the Restart Project in the UK (which actually launched the day in 2017; thank you Restarters!), and other members of the Repair Association.

I see repair as a form or reuse, though it can also be seen as a form of "reduce" (reduction), because through repair we keep items in their originally intended purpose for as long as possible, which is probably just a little higher on the waste management hierarchy than repurposing items prior to recycling (e.g. repairing a chipped mug and continuing to use it as a mug as opposed to repurposing a chipped mug into a bird feeder; both reduce waste through avoidance but might also be seen as reuse. That bird feeder is a reuse craft though, NOT a "recycling" or "recycled" craft no matter what anybody tells you, because you're not crushing the mug into feed stock for some new product, whatever that might be. And don't put mugs into your recycling bin; they don't get recycled and don't belong there.).

To read more about why and how you should reduce your environmental impact through repair, see my recent post for the GLRPPR and ISTC blogs, #P2Week Day 2: Reducing Your Impact Through Repair. That post includes a list of Champaign-Urbana projects that foster repair, including my personal favorite, which I helped launch and have coordinated for the past few years, the Illini Gadget Garage. The Illini Gadget Garage provides free assistance to consumers, helping them troubleshoot and repair their electronics and small appliances. Right now, the Illini Gadget Garage is going through a transition. The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center will not continue to coordinate it in the future, but I'm exploring options for the project to be "adopted" by another entity on campus so it can continue to serve the community. Meanwhile, you can still set up an appointment to work on your gadgets by emailing illinigadgetgarage@gmail.com or by sending a message via Facebook.

To read more about International Repair Day, see the iFixit blog. You can also check out the iFixit.org site which outlines why repair is important, how it contributes to sustainability and independence, and how repair creates jobs (According to iFixit, for every 1000 tons of electronics, landfillling creates less than 1 job, recycling creates 15 jobs, and repair creates 200 jobs.)

Reuse something! Fix something! Make an impact by making less of an impact on the world.

Circular Economy Short Courses Offered by Cranfield University

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 22:30:00 +0000

Cranfield University in the UK is launching a suite of Circular Economy short (CPD) courses which may be of interest to those involved with product design or those teaching industrial design, engineering, materials science, sustainability and related topics. Reuse, in its various forms, and repair, are key components of the circular economy, as illustrated in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation infographic on the concept at https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/infographic.

Set to begin in spring 2019, the Cranfield courses include:

Circularity in Practise. This is "a two day interactive course including inspirational key note presentations, case studies, group work, practical workshops, one to one feedback and mentoring. As well as hearing from experts who have implemented circular thinking, participants will have the opportunity to network with a cohort from a variety of backgrounds and industrial sectors about their own challenges of implementation."
Circular Design. "This course will inspire designers, doers, thinkers, entrepreneurs and business leaders to rethink the role of design and its value for the transition towards a circular economy. The course will introduce design and system thinking techniques within a practical approach, so participants can have a hand-on experience in implementing circular design."
Circular Innovation. "This is a three-day short course, hosted within the Centre for Design – C4D's strength and uniqueness is in its ability to deliver "informed creativity". By combining creative design practices with systematic applied research to create circular innovation business models. As well as hearing from experts who have implemented circular thinking, participants will have the opportunity to network with a cohort from a variety of backgrounds and industrial sectors about their own challenges of implementation."
Extending Material Life. "This course will set the basis for innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders to keep materials in high value use. Individuals will be introduced to multiple circular business models, case studies and supported implement circularity form materials point of view."
Mining Value from Organic Waste. "This course will offer an update on the most recent applications of circular economy in biological systems (low-value, high volume materials) and will provide an overview of the essential properties of organic waste biomass, methods for their critical appraisal and how to use them to design closed loop processing systems. Understanding the characteristics of the waste material is pivotal for implementing circular cycles. The course will develop the knowledge of the participant, introduce them to appropriate tools (waste characterisation and LCA etc) and combine all to solve a case-based problem."
Circular Economy Renewable Energy. "Renewable energy has gained traction in recent years, with the 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive setting the challenge to generate 20% of total energy demand from renewable sources by 2020. This is a two-day interactive course including inspirational key note presentations, case studies, group work, practical workshops and facilitated discussions. As well as hearing from experts working in the renewable energy and resource management sectors, participants will have the opportunity to network with a cohort from a variety of backgrounds and industrial sectors about their own challenges of implementation."

These courses are offered on the Cranfield campus (though some also have online components), in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. For complete course descriptions, dates, prices, etc., visit the Cranfield Univeristy web site.

Happy 'Earth Overshoot Day,' aka 'Let's Stop Living Beyond Our Means, Humanity Day'

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 00:18:00 +0000

It's August 1, 2018, and besides being completely astounded that the summer has flown by and I need to register my kids for school tomorrow, I'm utterly amazed that it's already Earth Overshoot Day.

What is Earth Overshoot Day, you ask? Well, that's the sad and sorry day that we humans have officially used more resources than our poor planet can replenish for the year. Or as stated more precisely and academically on the Earth Overshoot Day web site,

"Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity's demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. We maintain this deficit by liquidating stocks of ecological resources and accumulating waste, primarily carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Earth Overshoot Day is hosted and calculated by Global Footprint Network, an international think tank that coordinates research, develops methodological standards and provides decision-makers with a menu of tools to help the human economy operate within Earth's ecological limits.

To determine the date of Earth Overshoot Day for each year, Global Footprint Network calculates the number of days of that year that Earth's biocapacity suffices to provide for humanity's Ecological Footprint. The remainder of the year corresponds to global overshoot. Earth Overshoot Day is computed by dividing the planet's biocapacity (the amount of ecological resources Earth is able to generate that year), by humanity's Ecological Footprint (humanity's demand for that year), and multiplying by 365, the number of days in a year:

(Planet's Biocapacity / Humanity's Ecological Footprint) x 365 = Earth Overshoot Day"

Whichever explanation you prefer, the whole thing frankly sucks. Put slightly differently, in 2018 we'll use the equivalent of 1.7 Earth's worth of resources to support human civilization. As a species, we're collectively living well beyond our means--I say collectively, because of course there are plenty of people in this world who barely have access to enough resources to survive, so it's not as if each and every one of us as individuals is behaving recklessly here. But our collective impact and demand for the limited resources available is out of control.

This is not a new phenomenon, alas, but this year we have reached the earliest collective Earth Overshoot Day ever. Check out our "progress" in terms of consumption of resources since humans first started overshooting Nature's annual budget around 1970:

As I said, this is the earliest collective overshoot day. Some countries (like mine, the United States of America) clearly consume more than others. So the Global Footprint Network has also calculated when Earth Overshoot Day would occur if the entire human population of Earth consumed as much as the population of each given country. Those figures are called Country Overshoot Days. Here's a graphic displaying those dates for 2018:

If it's hard for you to read, you can check out a larger version and associated data at https://www.overshootday.org/newsroom/country-overshoot-days/. Let me just point out that if everyone consumed the way we do in the US, Earth Overshoot Day would have happened way back on March 15th. 😒 Our consumption is outpaced only by that of the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, and Qatar (so take whatever incredibly small comfort you can from that).

If you're not depressed enough already, you can use the Global Footprint Network's calculators to determine your "personal overshoot day"--how many Earths would we need if everyone lived their lives like you? http://www.footprintcalculator.org/. You don't have to show anyone your results. But it may get you thinking about what you might do to reduce your level of consumption.

And that's what all this information, and this post, is really about, rather than trying to make you feel guilty (although it sure does that effectively--I feel guilty, don't you?). It's about giving you a visual, relatable way to understand big concepts like global resource consumption, and hopefully be inspired to act in some small way. Things like sustainability and waste reduction can be abstract, and when a waste reduction and reuse advocate like me starts spouting facts and figures or talking about some case study of horrific resource depletion or pollution happening on the other side of the planet from you, even if you care in the moment and feel empathy for those directly impacted, it's hard to maintain that level of concern or understand how all of it effects you, because the impact isn't direct and the price paid isn't immediate. That's normal. We all have coping mechanisms to keep from being overwhelmed. The trouble is, those mechanisms can be too effective and numb us into inaction. Or maybe they aren't effective and we do get overwhelmed, and then we don't act because we have no idea where or how to start in order to improve the situation. But we have to act. All of us. In whatever small way we can, so that we can stop "drawing down the biosphere's principal rather than living off its annual interest."

So, what can we do? You already know and probably learned it in elementary school. "Reduce, reuse, recycle." Consult the EPA's Waste Management Hierarchy.

Think about ways to reduce the amount of resources you consume. Maybe you turn off that extra light which you don't need to have on. Maybe you refuse products offered that you don't need, especially if they're meant to be disposable (think of all the news lately about companies eliminating their use of single use plastic straws). Find some small way you can reduce your consumption and do it. And then think of another way, and do that. Repeat as you're able, a little bit at a time. It really does get easier to do with practice, and it usually saves you money too. The entire focus of this blog is reuse--and that's one of the best ways to reduce consumption. If resources have already been extracted from the environment and/or human labor has already been spent on creating a product, then those materials and products should be used for as long as possible, as many times as possible in their current form, to avoid the need to extract MORE from the natural pools of resources. Reuse can be simple, like donating old clothes you don't need so someone else can use them, or a little more complex, like repairing an item with minor performance issues or damage instead of choosing to replace it. And I've explained it before, but I'll reiterate--reuse comes before recycling, which is breaking down a product or material into constituents to become feedstocks in the creation of new items. Recycling is important, but it uses energy and other resources, and materials aren't always easy to reclaim from products. Even if they are, the quality of some materials degrade with every time they go through the recycling process, and they can't be used in quite the same way their next time around--this is called downcycling. So start by reducing. Where reduction isn't possible, reuse whenever you can, repair rather than replace, and when you no longer need or want something that still can be used, donate it, pass it on, or sell it so someone else can use it. And finally, when an item can't be practically reused anymore, recycle it if the infrastructure to do so exists in your area. If you observe materials that can't be recycled, contact the manufacturer and tell them you'd like to see their products be made from only materials that can be reclaimed for recycling. Or, depending on the situation, contact local authorities and let them know you'd like to see recycling options for the material in your community (e.g. if your curbside recycling accepts plastics with resin codes 1 and 2 only, and you'd like to see all types of plastics recycled). For more ideas, explore the "Solutions" section of the Earth Overshoot site. Also check out the "Steps to #MoveTheDate" section for specific tips.

And remember what the Global Footprint Network says in that section on solutions: "The current trend is not our destiny. The past does not necessarily determine our future. Our current choices do. Through wise, forward-looking decisions, we can turn around natural resource consumption trends while improving the quality of life for all people. While our planet is finite, human possibilities are not. The transformation to a sustainable, carbon-neutral world will succeed if we apply humanity's greatest strengths: foresight, innovation, and care for each other. The good news is that this transformation is not only technologically possible, it is also economically beneficial and our best chance for a prosperous future." In other words, we got ourselves into this mess. We can get ourselves out of it. We just need to recognize the problem and make better, smarter choices.

It's August 1, 2018. Seems like a good day to begin shaping a better destiny for ourselves, doesn't it?

#MOVETHEDATE

#BeatPlasticPollution By Choosing Reuse on #WorldEnvironmentDay

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 00:20:00 +0000

Today is an important "holiday" of sorts for those of us who are sustainability professionals. On this day in 1972, the UnitedNations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden, began (conference dates were June 5-16, 1972). The purpose of that conference was to discuss human interactions with the environment, as well as encouraging governments and international organizations to take action related to environmental issues, and providing guidelines for such action. This was the UN's first major conference on international environmental issues, and it culminated in what's commonly called the "StockholmDeclaration”—the first document in international environmental law to recognize the right to a healthy environment. Two years later, in 1974, the first World EnvironmentDay was held on June 5 with the theme of “Only One Earth.” Since then, World Environment Day has been celebrated annually on June 5^th. Each year has a theme around which activities center, and beginning in the late 1980s, the main celebrations began to rotate to different cities around the globe. Learn more about the UN Conference on the Human Environment at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/milestones/humanenvironment and the history of World Environment Day at http://worldenvironmentday.global/en/about/world-environment-day-driving-five-decades-environmental-action.

This year’s World Environment Day theme, chosen by the host nation, India, (New Delhi is the host city) is “beating plastic pollution,” with the tagline “If you can’t reuse it, refuse it.” If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably already aware of why reuse is so important and why “reuse” is a higher priority on the US EPA Waste Management Hierarchy than recycling or other forms of materials management (if you need a refresher on that, check out myprevious post highlighting a “Well-written Piece on Reuse vs. Recycling”). Still, it’s worth taking a moment to ponder some statistics related to plastic consumption that make the choice of reusable products rather than single use products so important. According to the WorldEnvironment Day web site: "While plastic has many valuable uses, we have become over reliant on single-use or disposable plastic – with severe environmental consequences. Around the world, 1 million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute. Every year we use up to 5 trillion disposable plastic bags. In total, 50 per cent of the plastic we use is single use. Nearly one third of the plastic packaging we use escapes collection systems, which means that it ends up clogging our city streets and polluting our natural environment. Every year, up to 13 million tons of plastic leak into our oceans, where it smothers coral reefs and threatens vulnerable marine wildlife. The plastic that ends up in the oceans can circle the Earth four times in a single year, and it can persist for up to 1,000 years before it fully disintegrates. Plastic also makes its way into our water supply – and thus into our bodies. What harm does that cause? Scientists still aren't sure, but plastics contain a number of chemicals, many of which are toxic or disrupt hormones. Plastics can also serve as a magnet for other pollutants, including dioxins, metals and pesticides."

To combat the environmental and human health issues associated with the global addiction to single use plastics, the UN Environment Programme is encouraging people to join the global game of #BeatPlasticPollutiontag. Here’s how to play:

Choose which type of single-use plastic you're ready to give up.
Take a selfie (photo or video) showing yourself with the reusable alternative that you're ready to embrace.
Share your selfie on social media and "tag" three friends, businesses or high-profile people to challenge them to do the same within 24 hours. Be sure to use the #BeatPlasticPollution hashtag and mention @UNEnvironment.

So what single use plastic item will you pledge to give up today—straws, plastic shopping bags, bottled water, plastic coffee pods, or something else? Here are some resources to support potential positive changes:

·
Check out https://thelastplasticstraw.org/ to learn more about the impacts of single use plastic straws on the environment, particularly on wildlife. See also thisWaste 360 article on National Skip the Straw Day. If you can opt to drink straight from your glass or take-out cup, that’s great, but if circumstances (e.g. drinking in the car, dental equipment such as braces or expanders, offering a drink to child that hasn’t learned how to handle a cup, etc.) mean the use of a straw would still be preferred, consider reusable stainless steel or glass straws, which can be washed using special brushes typically available from the same vendors as the reusable straws. Encourage party planners, restaurants, and other large food service operations to consider sturdy paper straws rather than plastic. Paper straws will at least degrade faster than plastic, and the resulting materials won’t be harmful. Where composting facilities exist, paper straws could be put into the compost bin along with food scraps. There are even edible options like the LOLISTRAW or the simple switch to using hollow pasta to sip your drink, as is done in a restaurant in Bristol in the UK. For even more alternatives, see https://thelastplasticstraw.org/resources/.

Reusable tote bags for groceries are pretty common these days, with many retailers selling their own branded bags near check outs. If you struggle to remember to bring in your reusable bags from your car to the grocery store, consider options that can fold into a pouch when not in use. There are some small enough to clip onto your keys, like those made by Chico bags, so if you’ve remembered your car keys, you’ll have at least one reusable bag with you (if you’ve locked your keys in the car, you have more immediate problems than waste reduction!). I’ve gone a step further and purchased a few cloth produce bags to replace the plastic options offered by stores; just a few examples include Chico’s produce bags and those made by Ecobags. Also, are you faithfully taking reusable bags into your grocery store, but not using them at other retailers like the book store, clothing store, etc.? Start using them whenever you know you’ll need a bag, or if you’re only making a small purchase, tell the retailer you don’t need a bag at all.

If you're reading this blog you probably don't need suggestions for a reusable water/beverage bottle, but let me point out a couple of twists on the concept. Consider a product that can be both bottle and cup, like a traditional thermos or the Dopper by Preserve, which can be both a bottle and a cup. Currently produced in the Netherlands, Preserve will be working to ultimately manufacture the Dopper in the US from 100% recycled materials. Secondly—I always say the greenest product is the one you already own. Consider washing out a glass jar that originally held sauce, jelly, or other product, or use an old mason jar to hold your cold beverages. If you're lucky like me, you’ve got a mason jar-style mug with the logo of your favorite local barbecue joint, which once upon a time held delicious sauce.

If you’re using a beverage maker that employs single-serving plastic pods, reusable versions of those “coffee pods” exist, into which you can put your own coffee grounds or tea that you’ve bought in bulk. Check out alternatives at Perfect Pod.

Illini Gadget Garage Encourages People to Repair Rather than Replace Devices

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Mon, 07 May 2018 21:59:00 +0000

I'm fortunate to have a day job that aligns with my personal values and allows me to work on various projects to reduce waste and otherwise foster sustainability. Some of these projects even encourage reuse; as you might imagine, those tend to be my favorites.

One such favorite is the Illini Gadget Garage project. The Illini Gadget Garage is a collaborative repair service, offered at no cost to the public, focused on electronics and small appliances. The goals of the project are to extend the useful life of products, and thus conserve the natural and human resources invested in their manufacture; empower individuals to understand more about how their devices function and to have confidence in STEM-related skills; and to further empower people to see do-it-yourself repair as a viable option for addressing minor damage and performance issues.

By "collaborative repair," we mean that we're here to help you help yourself! You don't drop off electronics at the Gadget Garage for someone else to repair so you can pick them up later. You come in, tell us about your problem, and together we'll sit down, do a little fiddling and Internet research, and work on getting your device back in working order. We're combating the mainstream belief that electronics are too complex or expensive to repair by welcoming and assisting individuals of all technical experience levels (including "zero," "zilch," "nada" and "none") to "tinker" with their devices. Depending on the situation, activities may range from guidance on how to make your device run faster or install new software to hands-on repair and replacement of components. We don't sell replacement parts, but we'll help you figure out if you need parts, what those are, and where you can get them. Then you can obtain those at a local shop or online and come back in when you're ready to make the replacement so we can provide guidance and moral support! Or, if you're comfortable with doing it on your own at that point, that's cool too.

By "electronic devices," we mean all the typical items this phrase brings to mind, such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc., AND other small appliances and common household devices with electronic components. Stop and think about it for a minute–we're surrounded by items with electronics integrated into them. Even greeting cards can have sound cards inside them to play music or record messages. We believe all items with electronic components should last, and not be seen as disposable. We can't guarantee that we can show you how to fix everything you bring in, but if you can carry it in and it has an electronic component, we'll definitely give it a try! And hopefully, we'll have fun together doing it. If the required repair or maintenance seems beyond our capability, we'll help you find local repair shops that can help. (Note that we do not make endorsements or specific recommendations–we just help you help yourself. The decision about which, if any, local repair business to take your device to is ultimately yours alone.) If your device is sadly beyond repair, we'll help you find local recycling options.

You can check out our impacts at http://publish.illinois.edu/illinigadgetgarage/about/our-impact/. You can also check out a video from Urbana Public Television's "It's All About U" program, highlighting the project below. (Note the bit on the IGG starts at 8:59.)

If you're interested in volunteering or setting up an appointment to work on your device, you can contact project staff at illinigadgetgarage@gmail.com. We also have pop-ups throughout the community, so be sure to check our web site or Facebook page for announcements. On May 19th, we'll be at the Champaign Public Library, giving a presentation/demo on how to clean your gadgets (you'd be surprised how often a good cleaning fixes performance issues!), so look for presentation details soon on Facebook.

One final bit of shamelessness: if you think this sort of demystification of technology and promotion of a "repair rather replacement" culture is worthwhile, please consider making a small donation to help support continued programming--see http://publish.illinois.edu/illinigadgetgarage/donate/donation-form/ for details. Thanks in advance for your consideration!

Mrs. Whitaker's Thrift Story via Neil Gaiman

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Sun, 06 May 2018 18:49:00 +0000

As my friends and colleagues already know, I've recently embarked on an interesting new side project called Thrift Story CU, along with one of those friends and colleagues, Madeleine Wolske of Imbibe Urbana. This is a Champaign-Urbana, IL spin-off of the original Boston-area Thrift Story project created by the clever public radio producer Lydia Emmanouilidou. The premise is that folks tend to hang on to objects, even if they've stopped using them (or maybe never did) because there's a story attached to them. It's really the story they want to keep more than the thing itself. Paradoxically though, stories are best kept if they're giving away, in the form of telling. The way to ensure a tale is not lost is to tell it, and retell it, and let others know and appreciate it so that they too might tell it, and allow the tale to ripple outward and touch still others.

So Thrift Story encourages people to donate those objects, with their backstories attached, written on index cards. The items are then sold at pop-up thrift sale events at various community venues, and the proceeds are donated to local charities and non-profit projects. Lydia started this as a way to explore storytelling, and to raise funds for hurricane relief at the first sale. She shared the story of the project online, and I found it and incorporated it into a class I was teaching on reuse. But the story was a good one and stayed with me, so I reached out and asked Lydia if she would allow her idea to take root elsewhere. And Thrift Story CU was born. See what I mean about sharing stories? You share them and they live, even more than you may have imagined. Madeleine and I love storytelling too, but we also care about reuse, shopping local, and celebrating the character of a place. So that's what Thrift Story CU means to us. This past Friday evening, I was at the Revelry Market (organized by Madeleine, who did an awesome job if I do say so), promoting Thrift Story CU. Below is an example of the sort of item one might donate with an attached story, which was featured at the booth on Friday.

So I've got Thrift Story on the mind this weekend. Today is a Sunday, and I'm being slow about getting to the things I really must do. This morning, over breakfast and house chores, I began listening to an audiobook version of Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, by Neil Gaiman, read by the author. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, and when possible, I listen to him narrate his own books, because I think he's as good a narrator as he is an author. One of the stories included is, in fact, one I had heard before--one which fits eerily nicely into the whole notion of Thrift Story CU. It's called Chivalry, and is the story of what happens when an elderly woman, Mrs. Whitaker, finds the Holy Grail at a secondhand shop.

Now THAT'S a backstory.


Walters Art Museum [Public domain, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Mrs. Whitaker is like so many "grandmothers" we all have known, yet her uniqueness is not something we can overlook as we might have with other ladies. She has her habits, simple tastes, and is caring and kindly. When Galahad shows up in search of her thrift store find, she treats him as you would expect her to treat any nice young man. But once she owns something, like so many of us, she hesitates to let it go. She values the small things in life, and she has lead a rich life full of such small details. Her existence is content, comfortable, and oddly mysterious.

If you find the notion of Thrift Story intriguing, then let me suggest Chivalry to you as an entertaining tale. I'm sure it will stick with you, and you might just tell some friends about it, as I'm telling you about it now. And who knows what magical (metaphorically or otherwise) finds you'll make at the first Thift Story CU sale? Watch our events page or Facebook for details as they're announced.

You can access the audio version of Smoke and Mirrors for free via Hoopla with your Champaign Public Library card number. There's a lovely version of LeVar Burton reading Chivalry on YouTube prefaced by some interesting commentary. You may find the story on Audible as a stand alone, performed by Christina Pickles. Both of our local public libraries have Smoke and Mirrors available electronically via Overdrive and My Media Mall. If you prefer, you can obtain a hard copy of Smoke and Mirrors at the Champaign Public Library or your favorite bookseller. Enjoy!

Reclaimed Goods Mall Opens in Sweden

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 22:30:00 +0000

Here's one more thing to make those of us in the U.S. who care deeply about sustainability say, "Maaaan, Europe has all the cool stuff!" Back in August 2015 the city of Eskiltuna, Sweden opened a mall, called "ReTuna," dedicated exclusively to goods that are repurposed, refubished, or made with recycled materials. According to this morning's article by Leon Kaye in TriplePundit:

"Functioning as part recycling depot, part shopping experience and part education center, ReTuna features 15 stores, a restaurant and a conference facilities. The mall includes retail shops for home decor and furniture, refurbished computers and electronics, housewares, sporting goods, and outdoor plants...Several of these stores also function as 'do-it-yourself' showrooms, where customers can learn tasks such as how to repair household items or make their own lamps. DIY-ers and sustainable living mavens can also take a break in ReTuna's café, which offers organic and sustainable fare...The center is also open to ideas for businesses that can contribute to the local sharing economy, with one example being a tool-sharing business."

This is clearly a place after my own heart, since my day job involves working on zero waste projects, including the Illini Gadget Garage, a collaborative repair center on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, where students, faculty, and staff can be guided through "do-it-together" troubleshooting and repair of their personally-owned electronics and small appliances. I wish I'd have heard of ReTuna back in 2015, so I could have started saving money for a trip to Sweden just to gaze upon such a place.

Genuinely, the place is "part recycling depot," because there's a drive-through drop-off recycling center. Workers sort through the items dropped off, and if anything seems appropriate for reuse in the stores within the mall, those items are distributed accordingly. There are also educational programs available, including a year-long "Design-Recycle-Reuse program" and "study visits," which include exploration of the mall's inner workings. Study visits cost $136 and are held weekly--so I'll make a mental note to add that to the budget and agenda for dream trip.

As a side note, "Tuna" is a current nickname for the town, and actually was its original name back in the days of Saint Eskil, whose name clearly was added later on. Being a native English speaker, I personally enjoy the fact that when I say "ReTuna," (and likely mispronounce it in a way that would make Swedish eyes roll), it reminds me of "retune." That seems appropriate, since this business model is all about adjusting our relationship with goods and materials.

Source: Green Hack GBG

Well-written Piece on Reuse vs. Recycling

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 14:52:00 +0000

Check out this recent post by Max Liboiron over on Discard Studies: "The Politics of Recycling vs. Reuse."

Liboiron states: "Recycling is an industrial process that collects used or abandoned materials, and smashes, melts, shreds or otherwise transforms them into their constituent raw materials. Recycling can reduce waste, the need for virgin materials, energy consumption, air pollution, and landfill leachates, though this occurs in varying degrees for different processes. But recycling is not environmentally benign. First, recycling institutionalizes disposables and single-use items by treating them after they have been created, meaning more single-use and disposable items are guaranteed to be made and tossed in the future. Make no mistake: recycling is a form of disposal. Secondly, as an industrial process, it necessitates expenditures of energy and virgin materials, and produces pollutants, greenhouse gases and waste...Thirdly, recycling is not a closed-loop system. Even if we concentrate on the 6-30% of recyclables in the US that are actually captured in the recycling stream, and ignore the two-thirds of captured recyclables that are dumped in landfills when market prices for recyclables plummet or bails are contaminated, recycling often creates products that are 'down-cycled.' Down-cycled products are not as robust as their predecessors, nor are such products usually recyclable themselves (polyurethane plastics, for example, are often turned into asphalt or other end-of-the-line objects)...Reuse, on the other hand, is an act that challenges the institutionalization of easy disposal and the politics of industry-supported 'environmentalism' and consumption."

Amen to all of this. It's not that recycling is a bad thing--it's a good thing, and we should increase the amount of materials that we collect and actually recycle. But it can't be the ONLY thing, and it surely shouldn't be the preferred thing. Back when I was little, you were taught (or at least I was, by the things which impacted me) that you can't just put all materials out to the curb in your trash bin because there really is no "AWAY." Recycling has in some ways become the new "away" for us--if we can put it in a blue bin, we feel we've done our duty, and have made the best choice we can for the greater good. But that's not really true, and that belief lulls us into complacency. Reuse is always a better choice. Designing products to last and to be able to be repaired and reused for as long as possible is key. Things should only be recycled for the reclamation of raw materials when their utility in their current form has been exhausted.

Even the US EPA's Waste Management Hierarchy, which clearly shows source reduction and reuse as the most preferred actions, kinda helps perpetuate incorrect thinking. Anything below that top tier really is a form of disposal, as Liboiron has pointed out. Different forms of disposal are better than others. The "disposal" referred to in the diagram above is really landfilling--the equivalent of saying, "we give up, we made this stuff, but don't know what the heck to do with it, so we're just gonna bury it over here and pretend it never happened."

If you're recycling, that's wonderful! It means you're being thoughtful about how to responsibly dispose of the items you use. But don't stop there--think about why you're disposing of so many things in the first place. Think about whether you could change your behavior to avoid disposing of things. Let the manufacturers of products you like know that you'd like those products to be more durable, easy to repair, and able to be upgraded over time so that even when you don't have a use for them any more, someone else might. If you can begin to think this way, you'll really be part of a cultural change.

Capitol Adorns Christmas Tree with Marine Debris

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

It's that time of year when my kids and I turn the dining room table into a factory for small handmade gifts constructed from reused materials. We've done penguins, snowmen, and Santa ornaments from old burned out light bulbs, refrigerator magnets from bottle caps, and stationary (note cards, envelopes, and notebooks) from old calendars, magazines, and cardboard.


Just a few of our creations. Henry the Light Bulb Penguin (left) serves an "elf on the shelf" function for my kiddos.

So I was delighted to read that some of the ornaments on this year's Capitol Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. are made from reused materials--and better yet, they're made from plastic marine debris in order to highlight the ocean plastic pollution problem.

The Capitol tree comes from a national forest in a different state each year, and is decorated by residents from that state. In 2015, the tree is from Chugach National Forest in Alaska, and artist Bonnie Dillard was selected to create ornaments after submitting a prototype of a fish made from plastic waste reclaimed from the sea.

From http://www.capitolchristmastree.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dillard-template.pdf

According to Smithsonian.com, "Her trashy tree ornaments were constructed by Alaskan schoolchildren this summer from ocean refuse picked up along the Alaska coast by members of a preservation organization." Awesome! These ornaments not only represent an important part of Alaskan culture and economy (fishing), but also provided an important experiential learning opportunity for the students who made the ornaments and for everyone who views them. This is real plastic pollution from the shores of state that provided our tree--not photos of floating plastic with a lack of context that makes it easy for our minds to categorize them as part of the Mythic Land of Away. Bravo, Ms. Dillard, for helping us face the waste we generate and fail to dispose of properly.

Read the full story on Smithsonian.com. And to learn more about marine plastic pollution and what you can do about it, see http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/ and http://www.5gyres.org/.

Vinylize Makes Groovy Glasses From Old Records

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 23:30:00 +0000

I really need to set up an eye exam, and know it's time to replace my glasses, which are starting to get pretty beat up. So I've spent a bit of time thinking about glasses lately, and wondered if anyone out there was making glasses from reused materials. I came across Vinylize, made by Tipton Eyeworks in Budapest, Hungary, a company that creates eyeglass frames from old vinyl records.

According to material on their website, Tipton Eyeworks' founder, Zachary Tipton, was inspired to try old records as a material, by his father's old record collection in his garage. The first collection, made in 2004, was created from records salvaged from flea markets, fused with "biodegradable cellulose-acetate to insulate it from the effects of heat...As often as possible we use vintage acetate (always used on the Limited Edition series)." After milling with a precision CNC machine, they tumble each frame for "72 hours with wood cubes to make them smooth and shiny." See the "Quality and Design" section of their site for more information, and check out the video below, which provides an abbreviated overview of their process. On YouTube, you can learn about a limited edition set made from Pink Floyd's album High Hopes.

This article from the Budapest Times provides further info. Lovers of vinyl might be scandalized by the statement, "In the digital era the records have little use," but heartened to know that Tipton doesn't always send records the proverbial chopping block. When he finds one in good condition from an artist he likes, it ends up on his turntable instead.

Alas, Illinoisans, there appear to be no shops within our state that carry these frames, but if your heart is set on advertising your love for vintage vinyl, reuse, or both, on the prime real estate atop your nose, you can always shop online. The handmade grooviness is pricier than what you're probably used to, and probably out of my personal price range, but they're handmade and unique. I suppose some folks spend as much on expensive shoes, clothes, or jewelry. They even come with cases made from upcycled 7 inch vinyl singles--clever. And really reuseful.

Exploring All Thrifty States: Jenna's Excellent Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

We've all had those moments when we hear about a product, project, or idea that someone else has put out into the world and we think, "Geez, why didn't I think of that?!?" I had just such a moment recently, whilst reading a Washington Post article on the creative Jenna Isaacson Pfeuller. Jenna's idea was born of necessity, as she shopped in thrift stores during a period of unemployment. A photographer with fond childhood memories of trips to thrift stores with her grandfather, she began taking photos of the stores she shopped at during her economic dry spell. This lead to a Kickstarter campaign and a partnership with Goodwill Industries, to document American culture through visits to thrift stores in every state--a project aptly titled "All Thrifty States." What a fabulous, fun idea! I'm so jealous. Not of the unemployment (which is thankfully over), but of having such a bold, brilliant idea, and fearlessly following through. And of all the cool thrift store finds, of course.

Check out her web site, complete with slideshow at http://www.allthriftystates.com/. Although the "Stores We Hit" page implies that there are still several states left to go, the Washington Post article and slideshow testify to the fact that she has visited shops in the lower 48, with only Hawaii and Alaska remaining. Way to go, Jenna.

I think this would be such an interesting project to do with students of all ages--to visit local thrift stores and create a photo essay of the local community by documenting the discards and donations. Also, consider all the different types of stores and activities that might fall into the "thrift store" category. Sure, there's the local Goodwill and similar stores that sell reclaimed items for a cause, but what of used book stores, materials for the arts shops, consignment shops, antique malls, vintage vinyl vendors, etc.? What about the cadre of local garage sales? Does your area have a set of homes that seem to be in perpetual yard sale mode? And what about the online reuse landscape that spans eBay, Etsy, Freecycle, Craigslist, etc.?

I've written before about artists HA Schult and Chris Jordan, whose work reflects our society through what we throw away. Jenna's work, and the spin-off student project I've suggested, are a different way to paint a similar picture, showing who we are by what we cast aside. But the view is slightly different, for in thrift stores and the like, we see what we choose not to keep, but cannot quite let go of; what we no longer value, but which we believe will be of value to someone else. Why don't we see everything as having some value, to someone, somewhere?

Beyond Geek: Making Old Tech New Again

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:17:00 +0000

While enjoying our winter break, the kids and I came across an interesting series called Beyond Geek. We caught an episode that really piqued my interest, highlighting reuse AND electronics. Host Dan Reynoso interviews a married couple that make beautiful music together--using old computers and game consoles. Their instruments of choice include the Commodore 64, Apple II, and Gameboy handsets. They've even developed software (on floppy disks!) to use this old technology to generate electronic music. Where many see electronic waste, these folks see--and hear--art. Score one for reuse!

The episode also highlights the practice of "homebrew" NES game creation--intrepid geeks programming new games for the Nintendo NES system. Some of these "homebrewers" reuse old cartridges to house their new 8-bit adventures, while one pair actually have a manufacturer create new NES cartridges (read "job creation"). I love to see ingenuity extending the useful life of a product, and these folks are providing fun and nostalgia for gamers with technology that most would consider obsolete.

Check out a preview of "8-Bit of Fun" below.

Hatch Creative-Reuse Art Festival Application Deadline Extended

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 13:48:00 +0000

For those in the Champaign-Urbana area of Illinois, applications for THE I.D.E.A. Store's Hatch Creative-Reuse Art Festival are due by November 16, 2014. The deadline has been extended. Hatch will consist of a juried Art Exhibition on February 28 to March 14, 2015, and an Art Fair on March 14, 2015. Items in the exhibition must be made from at least 75% reused materials. Items for sale at the fair must be at least 50% reused.

For more information, see www.abouthatch.org.

New Year's Re-Solutions

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:43:00 +0000

We're on the brink of a brand new year, but as we consider our resolutions, let's try to make the year one of the few "brand new" things we look forward to. Make some "re-solutions" instead of "resolutions" by resolving to reuse items and materials as much as possible in 2013. If you no longer have a use for something, donate it, sell it, or give it to a friend or relative who can benefit from it. Need something you don't already have? Look around at what you DO have and try to come up with a way to re-make your current under-used possessions into the "new" item that you need or want. If that turns out not to be possible, try to find what you're looking for at a thrift store, or online from a previous owner. Consider sharing items that you only use some of the time with friends and neighbors instead of owning something exclusively. Investigate how to recycle or donate most, if not all, of the items you might normally consider trash. There really are companies that will take just about anything--from old hole-ridden clothes, to used shoes, to your old furniture--I'll write about some of these options in the coming weeks and months. Try your hand at composting to turn even your food scraps into something new.

However you decide to approach the challenge, do your best to find as many ways to reuse in 2013 as possible. Our resources truly are precious; it can be so easy to forget that living in a privileged nation where most of us have want we need. Always remember that not all of us do in this world, and that if we do not value what we have been given, the day may come all too soon when resources that were once plenty are scarce. Show your gratitude for what we have by refusing to see any of it as waste. "Waste" is a failure of the imagination, a misnomer, a miscategorization. Be more imaginative in 2013. Seek out new friends, new experiences, new memories, new hopes, new dreams, new ways of looking at things, but not new things.

Peace, and Happy New Year! ~ Joy S.

Cap-tivating Whistles

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 01:02:00 +0000

People who know me well know that I have a minor obsession with, and modest hoard of, metal bottle caps. I just can't toss them into the trash, or even the recycling bin. I love the different designs and colors that can are printed on them, and their size and composition mean they can be easily repurposed into lots of things. I've used them to decorate bird houses and make magnets. I've glued them together and attached floral wire to make Christmas tree ornaments. When I make Christmas tree ornaments out of old painted light bulbs, I sometime use them for "hats" on the snowmen, penguins, Santas, etc. that I paint. I've used them as mini paint pots when my kids are making art and need just a little bit of paint from a big jug o' paint. They make great mosaic fodder. They can be made into beads and other jewelry. They can adorn belts. I've even seen them turned into cool fishing lures. And now that spring has sprung, and I'm outside listening to my glass wind chimes, I'm itching to try making some bottle cap wind chimes.

But I would never have thought of the application I just came across, and it may be just about the coolest bottle cap reuse yet. Loran Scruggs uses bottle caps and pieces from old tins to make working whistles. Check out her Etsy store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/BottleCapWhistles. The use of the caps for the whistle sides shows off the artwork on them. I'm delighted to see some of the same caps I've saved because of the unique animals or other graphics used in her whistles. My kids would recognize them as matching some of our Christmas tree ornaments. She even has a whistle with one of my favorite caps--an owl from Hitachino Nest Beer--as her profile image. I have bought that beer just to get more of those caps (it's not bad beer, but the cap is the real draw for me). Now I desperately want some of her whistles for me and the kiddos. If I ever decide to unload some of my cap hoard, I may have to see if she would accept them. Reuse, bottle caps, and kid friendly items--this makes me smile.

Loran's other items include toys and art made from caps, tins (like old Altoid tins), and cans. Very creative!

Sale Ends Never

noreply@blogger.com (Joy Scrogum) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:46:00 +0000

All items 100% off, sale ends never--one can imagine the radio and t.v. commercials that might be used to promote the Brooklyn Free Store, an interesting concept and location where items can be taken for free or dropped off for someone else to use. Read Colin Moynihan's article in the 8/15/10 edition of the New York Times for the full story.

I love this idea. It reminds me a bit of what we do in smaller cities and towns when we put something out on the curb with a sign that says "FREE" and hope someone who needs the item snags it before the trash haulers come. It also is reminiscent of online swapping services like Freecycle, but there is something about having a physical place to go and browse that I think is valuable. Sometimes you don't know what you need or want until you see it, or maybe your desire isn't major enough for you to search for it online, but if it was in front of you and free, you could take it and consider yourself lucky. Plus, it may be that seeing this sort of give and take community spirit in person is what is necessary to inspire folks to set their unwanted items free, as indicated by the person in the NYT article who left a reusable tote bag at the Free Store in order to feel he was involved.

At any rate, I wish every town had a store like this one.