It's a plastic bag ball!

I just came across this plastic bag ball image at Treehugger. With billions of plastic bags in this world there can never be too many creative reuse projects. If you're not a sports-type person, check out other plastic bag reuses here and here.

If you're actually at a loss for enough plastic bags in New York City, the city council will soon require large stores to install receptacles for collecting plastic bags. Hopefully it will be in the Whole Foods leave-a-bag, take-a-bag style. Yippee for recycling!

Trash = Landfill

I was having lunch at Whole Foods cafeteria earlier this week. When I finished eating, I went to throw away my plastic fork and paper napkin and saw the sign pictured above on their trashcans. Appropriate reminder. Then as I was googling an image for the can I saw that our friend George over at Treehugger had already posted on this. (Thanks for the photo!) Whole Foods also offers recycling bins for paper and plastic, so hopefully it's an unlucky few that end up in the landfill one. They do offer reusable plastic bowls for your lunch so those win the prize and don't end up in any bin.

On my way out I noticed Whole Foods recently installed a big plastic bag receptacle that is "leave a penny, take a penny" style. Take only bags you'll use, and leave any that you won't. Great place for all those dog owners to get their coveted stash.

Happy ReNew Year!

Hi all! New Years is always a time for resolutions and it's great to see that green is on people's minds. In fact, 49% of Americans aim to go green in 2008.

At RePlayGround, we're still turning trash into new. We're working on some new recycling projects for our do-it-yourself section, and we're giving our shop a makeover. Once the shop is fully stocked it will go back online. In the meantime, check out our Etsy shop for some one-of-a-kind items. The clothing swap tee's that debuted at the Bust Craftacular are up there, along with some recycled sports jersey tote bags. Or if your New Year's resolution was to become more crafty, you can make your own. This project is double-green because you're resuing something to make it out of, plus it's promoting reusable tote bags at the grocery store, rather than the disposable paper or plastic alternatives. Double-green. I like that.

Happy ReNew Year, all!

7 year old blackberries

A lot of people ask me where I get my inspiration and enthusiasm for recycling. Recycling and reusing is something my family did, and still does. I was taught by my parents early on to compost food scraps and reuse glass jars as juice glasses. My parents recycled and reused so much that we didn't even subscribe to curbside garbage pick-up. About once a month my dad would load my brother, myself and about 1 bag of trash and drive a few miles to the local dump to pay $1 to dispose of the bag. This was before paper recycling was offered in my hometown of Mason, Michigan and my parents would burn our paper waste in our wood burning stove as kindling to get the fire going. It wasn't until childhood friends would start come over and want to throw stuff in the garbage that I realized this wasn't the norm - food scraps and plastic baggies didn't go in the trash, the food scraps went to the compost pile and plastic baggies got rinsed out.

I realize I'm starting to paint a picture of myself as a hippie, but that's not the case. I still had the modern conveniences of a typical American life - I watched way too much TV, ate piles of potato chips, and went shoe shopping for sneakers when my old ones got holes. It was simply the way my family handled our garbage that gave me the recycling background that has lead me to start this company called RePlayGround.

As a kid I was also heavily involved in 4-H where I learned skills like sewing, basketweaving, and painting. Then, as an adult, I moved to the exciting city of New York and started furnishing my apartment with cast-offs I found on the streets. The sidewalks were a treasure trove of recycled materials! This lead me back to art school at Pratt where I wanted to refine my design skills of turning trash into treasure for the masses. Here I worked on my thesis, called Trash Nouveau, where I further explored this idea and I've been a Design Junkie ever since.

Over the holidays I visited my family back in Michigan and we had a good old time. My dad still heats part of the house with a wood-burning stove and we still compost. Sitting around the dinner table the first night, my brother mentioned that my mom had recently made a 7 year-old blackberry pie. I thought he was joking until my mother started defending herself. Apparently my parents did their once-a-decade freezer clean-out where they came across 7 year-old blackberries. My mother, never wanting to throw anything away, decided to make them into a pie. My brother said the pie was ok, but with a slight freezer burn aftertaste. My mom said it wasn't so and was determined to have me decide for myself. She still had several more containers of 7 year-old blackberries so she made a pie for Christmas Eve dinner. The pie had become a big joke among my family so there was a lot of anticipation for our final dessert. Now I'm not saying that keeping berries around for 7 years is a great idea, but the pie was actually pretty good and way tastier than the preservative filled kind found at the local grocery store. Well, that grocery store pie probably has a 7-year shelf life anyway.

gifts!

Like I said in my most recent post - you don't need to go overboard giving gifts, but when the gifts are really special, they can make the gift giver happy, too.

I have so many wonderful friends who create their own fantastic items, often for sale, I thought I'd talk 'em up a bit here. My friends are so talented!


Urban Fairies - I just got my niece a copy of Jonathan's latest book. (I hope my 6 year old niece isn't reading my blog). This book is so magical! Jonathan, the certified fairyologist, has documented the arrival of fairies in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He took drawings that children did of the fairies and drew his interpretation of them. And both the children's drawings and Jonathan's drawings are so fantastic! He's such a talented guy. Sure, he can be a little disgusting sometimes, but talented he is, too.


Garbage of Eden Design - pick up a pair of green earrings, not only green in color, but green because they're upcycled, too. Stephanie makes lots of stuff out of recycled bags, but the earrings are a classic... in a new green movement type of way.


Pink Graffiti - everything that Lesley makes is cool. Especially check out the handmade, appliqued clothing. Oh, and the puzzle earrings. And the plastic action figure earrings. Ok. Like I said, everything this girl makes is cool.


AuH2O - Kate Goldwater makes affordable handmade items out of vintage and recycled clothes. Affordable and recycled? No one can beat that. If you're in NYC, stopping by her store in the East Village is a must. It's super cute.


Challengher NYC - Christine's shop is super cute, too. And she not only has tons of great screenprinted items, like on her website, she has unique clothing and accessories that ooze both sophistication and stylishness. And those are hard things to ooze at the same time.


Wonderthreads - Diana is a wonder with thread, that's for sure. Her baby clothes are definitely cute, but for those of us that are a little too big for toddler size 4, she makes big kid clothes, too. Like the big kid giraffe t-shirt and a big kid Big Wheel t-shirt. Because some of us may look grown up, but we still like to play, too.

giving

Going holiday shopping can be discouraging for even the mild environmentalist. I mean really - just how many $1.99 plastic Santas can a person really use? Ok, so they are only $1.99, but will they serve any purpose a month from now? Do they really serve any purpose now? I'm all about recycling scrap into something new, but it's better to start with less in the first place.

Being a part of the Bust Craftacular this weekend reminded me of why we give things in the first place. Most items there were created with lots of handmade love. It was fanstastic to see so many people shopping for handmade and one-of-a-kind items. It reminded me that people really do care about what they buy.

I had a conversation recently with a store owner and friend here in Brooklyn. She excitedly told me how she was making all of her Christmas gifts this year. Even though it was taking up all of her spare time, she was really pleased with what she was making. And as she described the gifts she got really excited just thinking about how happy the recipients will be when they open them. That reminded me what gift giving is all about. It shouldn't be "ah crap, what do I get my dad who doesn't need a single thing?" It should be "boy, I hope I can make my brother fall off of his chair with laughter when he sees the photoshop job I did on our mom and dad's heads."

Christmas doesn't need to be about the dollar amount we spend, but about the love we give the gift with. Ok, so maybe that last statement is a little cheesy, but it's way better than, "here are 10 plastic Santas that I got on a great deal on the day before Christmas." And if those gifts are wrapped in recycled wrapping paper, then all the better.

the Craftacular is this Saturday!

Don't know what to get your family and friends for Christmas this year? Then be sure to stop by the Bust Craftacular! RePlayGround will be there along with about 200 other crafty folks. And there will be oodles of cute gifts created with lots of handmade love.

Where: Metropolitan Pavilion - 125 West 18th St., NYC
When: Saturday, December 8th from 10am - 8pm
Why: because it's not your ordinary craft fair - there'll be a DJ, drinking, plus cool gift stuff

We'll have some new recycled holiday items - like Christmas light earrings, and the snot bulb Christmas tree ornaments pictured above (don't worry, they weren't used, they were factory rejects). And our newest clothing project - Clothing Swap pictured below. They're reconstructed t-shirts made from old ones. Plus they've been silk screened with our fancy Clothing Swap logo.

Get your craft on. This Saturday!