Page 1 - January 10, 2018

JANUARY 10, 2018 XX NO.20

Village News

LIVING GREENER

Do we recycle or upcycle?

BY LINDA FAUSZ

Beginning a new year allows one to like Etsy and ArtFire, which offer
start new habits. One habit consumers an abundance of upcycled goods.
are doing more of due to the convenience Entrepreneur.com reports, “The number
of curbside pickup is recycling. Though of products on Etsy tagged with the
not a new concept, recycling has been word “upcycled” rocketed up from about
around for hundreds if not thousands of 7,900 in January 2010 to nearly 30,000 a
years. It was in the early 70s when one year later – an increase of 275 percent.”
woman started with the idea of towing a Locally upcycling has been popular
“recycling” trailer behind a garbage truck with local businesses like Timeless
to collect trash and recyclable items at the Treasures providing furniture made new
same time. Our community is provided again with repairs and paint and spaces
curbside collections by TFC Recycling. for local artists to sell their upcycle
They have been in the recycling business products. Leslie Rush offers hand-
since 1977. stamped flatware turned into bookmarks,
Consumers are becoming more jewelry, and keychains as well as
aware of waste and are embracing the personalized reuseable flatware in one of
ingenuity of people creating new stuff the spaces.
from old or otherwise – upcycling. It Three local sisters, Marie, 19;
too is not a new concept. Henry Ford Juliana, 16; and Alex, 15; caught this
is said to have use crates that machine reporter’s eye at “A Taste of Art” at
parts arrived in as floor mats for his Chester Library last month. They were
T-Models. selling holiday and everyday items by
According to an entrepreneur. reusing and re-purposing everyday items
com article from 2011, “Upcycling’s that I throw into the trash every day.
resurgence in the business world can “We have been crafting since we
be traced to the 2002 publication of were young,” said Marie Anger. “We PHOTOGRAPHED DURING THE A TASTE OF ART EVENT AT THE CHESTER LIBRARY
“Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way started reusing and re-purposing old and FROM RIGHT; MARIE, JULIANA, AND ALEX ANGER ENJOY REUSING AND RE-PURPOS-
We Make Things,” a book (printed on a discarded items because we could not ING OLD AND DISCARDED ITEMS INTO SOMETHING NEW.
synthetic paper made from plastic resins afford normal craft supplies at the time.
and inorganic fillers) by architect-and- Now we can afford craft supplies and
chemist duo William McDonough and we create items using store bought and
Michael Braungart proposing the idea discarded materials.”
that manufacturers were practicing a They first started making doll
“cradle-to-grave” production approach, clothes at a very young age. They looked
which recycling just wasn’t good enough at catalogs that had doll clothes and
to counteract.” accessories and made their own using
As an example, Ace recycling at their old baby clothes.
the Substainablity Park in Enon recycles Julianna continues to make doll
construction debris to avoid being in clothes for the Barbie line and has her
the landfill. Newspapers are recycled own website with photos of her creations
to make more newspapers, plastics are at https://12inchfashion.weebly.com/ MARIE MAKES PAPER FROM PAPER
recycled to make carpet, more and more One of Marie’s favorite items she has SCRAPS.
businesses are finding ways to reuse made is a two story doll house that had bags were used as siding. Juliana’s favorite
their waste. a roof covered in individual cardboard item is a quilted purse made out of old bed
It is clear artists and craftsmen are shingles. The structure was made out of linens. For Alex, it is a plush dragon made
upcycling more each year selling their cardboard boxes, the windows were old out of fabric and foam scraps that were left JULIANA MAKES BARBIE DOLL CLOTHES
remakes at online artist marketplaces plastic packaging, and paper shopping over from previous projects. FROM DISCARDED FABRIC.
Read more on page 3

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