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Art Projects with Recyclables

Art Projects with Recyclables

On episode 37 of the Sustainable Minimalists podcast we discuss creative reuse of items found in our trash and recycling bins.


Art Projects with Recyclables: An interview with Carla Brown.

Interviews are always best in audio. Listen here!


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Carla Brown is a podcaster + artist who loves create art projects with recyclables + trash. She weaves plastic bags, sews flexible food packaging + designs trash fashion.

She hosts the podcast Trashmagination about the creative reuse of materials that typically get thrown away.

When not making items from trash, Carla is an innovation consultant + plays in a taiko performance group in the Washington DC area. She is originally from eastern Canada.

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How to determine What. On. Earth. to collect:

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  • Look long + hard at the trash your family generates.

 If products you buy come in packaging that doesn’t compost, decide whether you will take responsibility for that packaging.

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  • Start a Pinterest board of ideas for what you want to do with that material.

If decide to continue purchasing a product with non-compostable packaging, find ways to creatively reuse that item’s packaging. Start a Pinterest board to keep track of your ideas.

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  • Match a “making skill” to the trash/recycling material. 

 Not many classes teach how to make items from recycled materials, but there are many art, craft, sewing, woodworking, sculpting + other similar classes.

Look at the trash/recycling material + evaluate which skills could be useful to transform that material. If an item is flexible, for example, sewing or weaving may be a good option. If it is hard, perhaps woodworking or sculpture is the way to go.

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  • Only collect items that spark your creativity.

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  • Tell your friends + family what you’re collecting. 

 If you can gather enough materials quickly, you are more likely to complete the project + move on.

This will reduce the amount of space these items take up in your home as you wait to gather enough.

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How to store recyclables until you’re ready to use them:

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  • Clean, deconstruct + make materials as small as possible. 

– For wooden clementine boxes, remove all the staples.

– For toothpaste tubes, squeeze out all the paste, cut the bottom and side, then flatten it.

– For jeans, cut out the panels of denim fabric, then roll up the seams + waistbands.

– For fabric scraps, iron them flat + stack them with similar colors + sizes in Ziplock bags.

– For flexible food packaging, keep them in a box sorted by size + brand.

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  • Set maximum collection amounts. 

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  • Set maximum “keep” times. 

 If something has been sitting in storage for more than a year, decide that is the time to give it away.

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  • Store in clear containers.

 If you can see it, you’re more likely to use it.  Forget about storing materials in cardboard boxes.

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What to do with collections you no longer need:

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  • Many items can have value if they are in quantity, clean + stored neatly.

If you gather more than you need for a project, there are people who likely want them. The people who value these collections are creative reuse centers, teachers, community centers + people via your local Buy Nothing group.

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  • People are more likely to want your recycled material collections if you show how to use the materials. 

Search on Pinterest for a material type + offer as project ideas. When giving collections to teacher, find project ideas that are age appropriate for their students first.

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Get more of Carla!

 

Listen to Trashmagination on iTunes.

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Follow her Instagram for daily creative inspiration.


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We have become over-reliant on the very thing that's destroying our planet. On today's show: Imagining the ways in which modern life, interpersonal connections, well-being and more would change in a hypothetical, fossil fuel-free world.

 

Here's a preview:

[6:00] We are so reliant on electricity that we are incapacitated without it. This is a problem!

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[30:00] What research says with regard to the wellness benefits of working with our hands

 

Resources mentioned:

 

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