The Case for Transforming Trash
I don’t like buying stuff. Most of it turns out to be junk, and therefore a waste of money. And I really don’t like waste.
If you, like me, are in the consumer-class, you may have found that most items you’ve purchased in the last two-decades are demonstrably lower quality than comparable counterparts from the past. From appliances to zippers, long-standing popular products have been changed in the name of improved efficiency or lower costs and the results have been less than ideal.
Perhaps it’s just that Earth Day tends to get me thinking about the actions each of us can take to actually improve our own little corners of the world. We all know the standard Earth Day activity: get a stick and bag to clean up your local play park. This is a great thing to do, don’t get me wrong, but I have to ask…
“Why is there always so much junk at the park to clean up, and how do we make sure there’s not so much here next year?”
The 2 Most Important Rs
It seems that slowly but surely the first two Rs: Reduce and Reuse have been overshadowed by their more glamourous counterpart: Recycle.
The promise to clean up a mess, though, is a poor substitute for not making a mess in the first place. Better “efficiency” is not a fair trade-off if you need to buy four when you could have had one that was well built.
Think of all the things we do with things in the name of being good eco-citizens that, in the end, externalize the burden and reduce our connection to what we have:
- We donate our grandmother’s dishes and buy new ones that match our decor, feeling we’ve done good because it went to Goodwill
- We order off Amazon to save our gas instead of finding some scrap wood and using our hands when in need of a shelf
- We sip from metal straws pretending it makes a measurable difference even though we know that someone, somewhere, has to get the raw materials, run the machines and the vehicles to manufacture and ship those straws to us… was drinking from the rim really so bad?
- We surround ourselves with things made by people we don’t know for companies who don’t care about us instead of opening our eyes and looking in our own backyards for what treasures we might glean
Why?
Are we happier with the revolving door of new goods, or could satisfaction be found in using a little imagination and expanding our skill sets to repurpose what we already have?
I think Oscar the Grouch may have said it best when he sang:
“I’ve a clock that won’t work,
and an old telephone.
A broken umbrella, a rusty trombone.
And I am delighted to call them my own!
I love them because they’re trash.”Oscar the Grouch
So now you know why to love your trash… but what do you do with it?
If necessity is the mother of invention, is there not then a benefit to need?
Earth Day endeavors could be more successful if we cherished, instead of discarded, so many of our possessions. If we welcomed less new junk into our lives and instead challenged ourselves to transform what we already have into things we can use and love.
Interested? Then go! Take stock of what you have and what you need. Compare those two lists, grab a buddy and try your hand at Upcycling!
The opportunity to give something old a chance at new life is always one worth taking. It not only takes a few items out of the waste stream, it’s also the perfect way to get a bit creative and apply some DIY know-how to make something special from (and for!) almost nothing.
Upcycling 101
Step 1: Find a friend and hunt for treasure
To get started you will need to find some building blocks for your project.
Whether you check your attic, garage, closet, neighbor’s shed, recycling bin or hit up a local second hand place, look for things that on their own may not spark much joy but that could be combined with other items or used in a novel way to make it into something useful and unique.
Bring a friend along to double your brain-power and double the fun!
Items that make good project pieces include:
- Clothing & fabrics
- Furniture
- Recyclables like cans, bottles, corks and cardboard tubes – just because they can be recycled doesn’t mean they need to be!
- Weird odds and ends that you can’t tell what it was to begin with!
Step 2: Get inspired
Maybe you were lucky enough to find something SPECTACULAR on your treasure hunt that you want to breathe new life into, but maybe you just have bottles and cardboard tubes. Even if you just have some odds and ends there are some common Upcycling projects that can work with a variety of items.
You can find plenty of specific projects online, but some common ideas include:
- Arts & Crafts – take something ugly and make it pretty! Make a sculpture, make a toy or a puppet, make a frame to display your other works of art!
- Home Decor – make something you can use around the house! Make candle holders, shelves and organizers, or tote bags to carry home more treasure!
- Science & Nature – give back to your backyard! Make a planter, a birdfeeder, a bug habitat because you can always learn from what you grow!
Step 3: Get to work
Once you decide what you want to make, it’s time to get busy.
Our ancestors gave us the gift of tools, plus the brains and thumbs to use them. Put them into action and see what you can accomplish!
Take some time to figure out what materials you need to turn your trash into your dream creation, lay out the steps you’ll need to take, and set aside enough time to do it.
It doesn’t have to be a complicated project to be worthwhile. Making a simple birdfeeder from a pop bottle still counts.
Hopefully your friend stuck around to help with this part!
Step 4: Enjoy the fruits of your labors
Well done! You now have a new unique item to enjoy and share! Or maybe it was a disaster and it’s ended up in the trash anyways. Don’t despair, I’m sure you learned something without breaking the bank and you probably have plenty more whats-its laying around so you can always try again.
Show your friends your creations and challenge them to make something of their own. If they really like what you made, guess what? You may have found yourself a business opportunity!
Maybe I’ll do more on that another time, but for now: where’s my stick and bag?
Happy Building and Happy Earth Day!
