We're getting ready for Earth Day!

Earth Day is coming up this April 22nd, and to celebrate, we'll be at festivals in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. You can find us at Earth Day New York in Grand Central Station on Vanderbilt Street this Friday, April 20 from noon-7pm and Saturday, April 21 from 11am-4pm, or drop by McCarren Park in Brooklyn for Go Green! Greenpoint! Earth Day Festival this May 5th, or stop on by the Queens Central Y on May 6th for their Earth Day Fair! We'll be teaching a different crafty recycling project at each event, so come ReMake with us and celebrate at some of the greenest parties on the planet! For a full listing of our event dates and details, check out our event page.

Volunteer for Earth Day New York!

Earth Day New York is looking for eco-minded volunteers to help out with the festivities in Times Square and Grand Central Terminal over April 21, 22, 23, 2012.

Make an impact, meet tons of people, and have fun doing it! Sign up here.

RePlayGround will host an eco-crafty table outside of Grand Central Terminal, where we'll teach you to make your own recycling project to take with you. Be sure to drop by and ReMake with us! For more details, see our event calendar.

Tote Overload in New York Mag

New York magazine recently ran an article called Tote Overload (Dec. 12 2011). The article makes a good point about consumption. There's no argument that reusable totes make an impact on the burgeoning plastic trash problem we face. But over consumption can still occur with the eco-friendly tote bag. Professional personal organizer Beth Zeigler came up with an innovative solution. She staged a redistribution drive this December in L.A, and collected 1,900 unused reusable bags for redistribution. Great! Now let's get these drives to catch on in cities nationwide!

To view the entire article, click here.

Green City Challenge Race & Family Expo

This Sunday Oct. 23 you can catch RePlayGround at Green City Challenge in Union Square Park from 12-3PM. We'll be teaching free eco-crafty projects to make and take, so stop on by! The event will demonstrate how to live, work, and eat green, and will also connect eco-friendly businesses and organizations. To see more info on the event, click here!

Plastic bag bangles by Garbage of Eden!

This week we're featuring our friend Stephanie Huffaker of Garbage of Eden! Stephanie, who is also a RePlayGround instructor, creates beautiful bangles out of plastic bags and yogurt cups. Below you can see the process of creating the yogurt cup base. Stephanie uses pre-consumer and post-consumer waste to make her upcycled designs. Materials include misprints from companies and also used materials that are sterilized for reuse. Garbage of Eden seeks to raise consciousness about sustainability. "If we take the time to seek out and realize the positive potential in the objects around us, there is no waste." To get your own recycled bag bangle, check out the Etsy shop!

Recycle-A-Bicycle

Recycle-A-Bicycle (RAB) is a community based bike shop that works with NYC youth to refurbish bicycles for new use. The non-profit organization salvages 1,200 bicycles a year from the landfill, and teaches students bike mechanics and repair techniques necessary to get junked bicycles back on the road! Every purchase from the store supports youth programs and environmental initiatives. RAB reaches kids and adults with programs where you can earn a bike through volunteer work, internships, and a Kid's Ride Club, along with adult education courses in maintenance and cycling skills. RAB estimates they have diverted 36,000 pounds of waste from NYC's landfills yearly. That's a big impact!

Another program RAB offers is Recycled Arts, where young people can transform old bike parts into crafty, artistic creations! We're always excited to see people getting creative with scrapped materials. Take a look at our own spin on recycled bicycle with our bike chain jewelry:

For information on how you can get involved with Recycle-A-Bicycle, or to donate a junked bike, check out http://www.recycleabicycle.org/

Green for Queens Earth Day Fair!

RePlayGround is spreading eco-crafty fun all over the city, and our next stop is the Green for Queens Earth Day Fair! Great for kids and adults, this fair will include sustainable food tastings, reptiles and more from the Wildlife Children's Theater, a discussion with Anne Lappe on her book Diet for a Hot Planet, cooking for kids, live music, and of course, recycling craft projects brought to you by RePlayGround! So be sure to stop by for your own free project to make and take, and much more!

When: Sunday, May 15, 2011 1-4PM

Where: Central Queens YM & YWHA 67-09 108th Street, Forest Hills NY

Website: click here!

See you there for some trash-tastic fun!

Thanks for a great Earth Day!

This Earth week was jam packed with eco-crafty fun! Thank you to all who made it out this year to celebrate and remake some trashy projects with RePlayGround. Whether you visited us at Etsy Labs, the Sustainable NYC party, the Ecover cocktail party, or E Day in Grand Central Terminal, we want to say thank you for making our week extra green!

We're super inspired by all the creative, crafty people we met this week. To see pictures of all our new friends and their trashy creations, check out our flickr photostream.

If you're in the NYC area and missed out on Earth week, don't worry! We'll be at a few more book signing events this coming month, so drop on by! You can get your hands on our new book ReMake It! Recycling Projects from the Stuff You Usually Scrap and make a craft project to take home with you. Check our event calendar for more event updates.

Green in BKLYN

432 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn NY

April 30, 2011 2-4PM

Greenlight Bookstore

686 Fulton Street (at South Portland), Brooklyn NY

May 28, 2011 11-1PM

Earth Day may have come and gone, but we'll keep ReMaking It!

The 30 Under 30 Contest!

I'm pleased to be a judge in Ecover's first ever 30 under 30 contest. I just don't know how I'm going to decide among the treehugging dirt-lover, the water crusaders, the book sharer, the veggie-powered biker, and loads more. You can check out all of the great submissions here. It's great to see so many young eco-activists out there. And even though there can only be one grand prize winner, all eco-activists are winners in my (shared) book!

Trash talkin' with More Hip than Hippie!

The hip ladies over at More Hip Than Hippie recently called me up to talk trash. You can listen to the podcast on their site here. It'll fill you in on all of the trash happenings around RePlayGround because we're always loaded with lots of fun upcycled goodness!

Thanks for the great interview Dori and Val! You guys rock my eco-world!

Upcycled Interiors at Caracas Arepa Bar, Brooklyn

The RePlayGround crew recently enjoyed a delicious arepa dinner at a nearby Venezuelan restaurant. We came for the food, but were extra tickled to realize that the interior design of the restaurant, by our friends at EcoSystems, was beautiful and eco-friendly.



If you're in the neighborhood, you should visit and check out the clever use of salvaged wood and other materials, and the surprisingly grown-up and tasteful use of milk crates as seating. (And then stay and enjoy a delicious meal!)

Umbrella Fabric Water Bottle Cozy

I love my reusable water bottle. I love filling it up with ice water and having a free, sparkling cold drink all day long. I do not love the way it sweats all over my hand in warm weather. My wristband repurpose was a nice stopgap measure, but I was looking for something a little more permanent, and came up with this custom quilted cozy.



Upcycled umbrella fabric is the perfect water-resistant material for lots of sewing projects, so I decided that would be the outer layer. (In fact, I made this project from the outer sleeve of a new umbrella since I knew I'd never use it for its intended purpose.)

For the inside, I just used some leftover scraps of fabric from another project and sandwiched some batting between the two layers. The batting is optional, and you could try just about any material on the inside, the more absorbent the better. (Recycled felt or a sweatshirt scrap would be ideal.) Besides fabric, you need a small piece of elastic, scissors, and needle and thread or sewing machine.

How-to:

1. Measure the height and diameter of your bottle. Cut your fabric rectangles the same height with a width slightly larger than the bottle diameter. (After you sew the pieces together, you'll lose a little width, which you'll then make up for with the elastic.)



2. Sandwich your fabric together, right sides facing in, with elastic between the two pieces of fabric. Batting or felt, if you're including it, gets pinned to the front or back.



3. Sew layers together with a 3/8" - 1/2" seam, leaving a gap of a couple inches in the end across from the elastic.



4. Turn layers inside out, leaving the same gap open, and sew around the edges again to reinforce everything - I always like to put some extra stitches at the elastic. You can also add some decorative extra stitching for a cool quilted look.



5. Put the sleeve onto your bottle and insert the end of the elastic into the gap, pinning it securely into the fabric. Sew all the layers together at this point, and voila! Your very own insulating and semi-waterproof bottle cozy!

2009 RePlay

Woo hoo 2009! It's been a busy, trash-filled year. Here's a replay of all of the upcycling goodness that headed our way and we sent right back at-ya.

I started out full-force continuing with my Chief Design Junkieness to create loads of TerraCycle design projects.


By Earth Day, the Bronx Zoo had hired us for a month long eco-celebration and my RePlayGround crew headed up there to share their crafty upcycling skills. Kids (and adults, too) walked away with projects like the cereal box wallets, CD suncatchers, and more.


Earth Day also saw the premier of Garbage Moguls, which follows me and my TerraCycle friends on our trash-packed adventures. Even Oprah and Good Morning America took notice and recommended a watch.


I also signed a big, fancy book deal (well, as fancy as you can be with garbage anyway) at Sterling Publishing. Our book, ReMake It - over 100 projects from the stuff you usually scrap, will be hitting bookshelves in April 2011. We pushed on full-force this year and concepted, created, illustrated, and wrote instructions for over 100 do-it-yourself projects.

The superstar designer, Abby Kelly, landed on our RePlayGround just in time to help with all things book, kits, trash, and design. We're very lucky to have her talent, impeccable design style, and sense of humor around here where we look forward to creating more trashy goodness this year.


That's Carly on the left and Abby on the right

Carly Miller, our official Garbage Outreach Coordinator, continued with her overwhelming enthusiasm in demonstrating to others how to upcycle everything in your path. She headed up coordinating the big Bronx Zoo event plus birthday parties, bar mitzvahs and more. You can even catch her in person as she continues the Eco-Workshop series at Sustainable NYC in the East Village on the second Wednesday of every month. (except for a brief hiatus in January where Abby will be flexing her crafty skills).
And if you're interested in booking us for an event send an email our way.


The ReMake It recycling kits continued to sell like eco-hotcakes! They've even been picked up by Signals catalog and our friends over at Uncommon Goods. We're continuing to work with the goods people at Streamline to create the latest, greatest in ReMaking It. Keep your eyes peeled in 2010 for some new kits on their way. There will be projects with plastic bags, and some good old fashioned play-with-your-trash-type-games.

In addition to keeping up this blog, we also contributed our fair share of upcycling project goodness to our faves over at Craftzine, Ecouterre, and Planet Green.

This year we were also honored and blown away by the fantastic words featured in publications like the New York Times, Rachael Ray Magazine, Time Out New York, and many more.

More Garbage Moguls episodes were taped this year, so be sure to check out National Geographic Network in 2010 around Earth Day for a more episodes in the series - as we design our way out of garbage messes.

We wrapped up the year with a good ole fashioned ReMake the Holidays party on our RePlayGround. We drank up some good local brew sponsored by the Brooklyn Brewery. Since no good party is complete without a fun craft project, we showed party participants how to transform 6 Metrocards into this super-sweet holiday ornament.


Stay tuned to our website and blog as we continue to add, evolve and just generally upcycle everything in our path this year.
Happy 2009 and here's to an upcycled 2010!!!

Talkin' Trash: November 3, 2009

Talkin' (Recycling)

On Tuesday, a Korean film crew joined me and Carly for a mini Talkin' Trash expedition.

The tools: recycled cardboard signs with speech bubbles and Replayground stamps; markers; tape; and a little creativity. Just like last time, our goal was to help the trash "talk" about its potential for a new, upcycled life.

It wasn't a bulk trash night and we didn't travel too far, but we still found lots of potential in just one pile of garbage.


This discarded exercise equipment (not even post- New Year's Resolution!) was in great shape. An ambitious trashpicker could use these raw materials for all sorts of things: put the seat on a milk crate for a storage stool, use the tubing for an umbrella stand or coat rack.



Six-pack caddies make great organizers for art, office or kitchen supplies. (You can cover them with wrapping or contact paper if the beer logo doesn't match your decor.)


Simple containers have such great overlooked potential!

Check out our Flickr set for more pictures and inspiration!

Times for trash!

We've had a great month of some fabulous news articles here at our RePlayGround.

Rob Walker from the New York Times wrote a great article called Trash Talk in today's Sunday Times magazine. You can read all about RePlayGround's upcycling adventures and our philosophy of giving garbage another go. Plus super-design website Core77 already picked this and posted about this article.

And be sure to check out the October issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray to see our ReMake It wine cork trivet in the faves section.

We're all about rethinking your garbage and teaching you how to upcycle on your own. It's really not that hard. RePlayGround is here to help show you how you can do-it-yourself!

Good times!

Confessions of a Radical Industrialist

Last week a couple of us Replaygrounders had the privilege of going to see a talk by Ray Anderson, who's on tour promoting his new book.

For those unfamiliar, he is the CEO of Interface, a Georgia carpet tile manufacturer. He's well known in the design community, having been profiled in magazines like Metropolis and received recognition and awards for his efforts over the last several years. "Confessions of a Radical Industrialist" is a followup to his book "Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model".

Ray's story is fascinating. As he will tell you himself, he worked in his extremely polluting and petroleum-based industry for decades without giving the environment a second thought. It wasn't until 1994, when an employee sent him a copy of Paul Hawken's "Ecology of Commerce", that he had what some describe as an "eco-epiphany" - all of a sudden, he decided that protecting the environment was not just important for our future and the future of the planet, but also made great business sense.

From then on he made it his mission to transform his company and the way it did business - "doing well by doing good" - and become a leader by example. Interface now champions a cause called "Mission Zero" - zero environmental footprint by 2020. Interface is committed to its goal, and this commitment has yielded a number of happy accidents and innovations. We heard quite a few anecdotes about the interesting (and profitable) surprises that came about as Interface began to change the way it did business. It was truly inspiring to hear what Interface has achieved - just by setting out to try something new. (And as long as you're not a competitor in the carpet business, Interface will be happy to share its expertise!)

Mission Zero is ambitious and admirable, and Ray is doing a tireless job of promoting his ideals. I especially appreciate that he's putting a sensible, businesslike face on eco-friendliness: when something makes financial sense, it's a lot easier to win over eco-skeptics!

If you ever get the chance to see him speak, I highly recommend it. In the meantime, add his book to your reading list.



"Never underestimate the power of a good question" - Ray Anderson

Rethink | Refuse | Reuse: Newspaper

Another Rethink - Refuse - Reuse, this time for all you gardeners out there.

Mulch is great. Mulch helps keep down moisture - reducing the need for watering. Mulch suppresses weeds - reducing the need for weeding and/or herbicides. You can mulch your garden with a myriad of natural and artificial materials, many of them extremely eco-friendly and available at a shop near you.

But what's eco-friendlier than not buying new stuff in the first place? It's temptingly easy to spend your energy shopping for the "greenest" solution to a problem, but it's even greener to use what you already have. Before you head to the garden center for a big bag of shredded mulch bark, take a look at that stack of old newspapers.



Shredded newspaper is fantastic at keeping moisture in and weeds at bay. It's more realistic for those of us with smaller gardens, and it's not the most decorative option, but it works wonders in vegetable gardens and around newly-established plants that need lots of water and TLC. Newspaper mulch is recommended by many gardeners, including the folks at Organic Gardening. Shredded or torn, it makes a nice airy mulch around plants. Or, if you're trying to eradicate stubborn weeds, put down a few layers of intact newspaper as a barrier.

Most newspapers today are printed with soy ink, but if you're unsure about what your local paper uses, don't hesitate to ask. (And if they're still using petroleum-based inks, encourage them to switch!)

Recycled Houses in Texas

Great read in the New York Times about a man in Texas who builds houses completely from salvaged and reclaimed materials. The slideshow is chock full of inspiring images. I'm especially digging the ceiling made of frame samples and the osage orange wood countertops.

It's always nice to be reminded that serious re-use is possible on a large or small scale -- and ideas abound whether you're looking to reuse a plastic bottle or tons of construction waste! (For you NYC-based folks looking for sources of salvaged materials, check out Build It Green NYC - and if anyone knows of more, feel free to let us know in the comments.)

Cycle

I recently returned from a summer vacation to Europe. One of my stops was Amsterdam and it really opened my eyes to bike riding as a real form of public transportation. Sorry New York, you don't have anything on Amsterdam quite yet. New York has done a great job in this past year putting in bike lanes and bike lights. Amsterdam is what New York can aspire to be like in 10 years. Pretty much every street had a bike lane and all bikers knew what direction to go in. Even the ATMs were bike accessible.


Whaddya think? Start replacing car parking garages with bike garages? You can certainly fit a lot more bikes. With a lot fewer emissions. That image below is an open air bike garage loaded with bikes. Not a car in sight.

Rethink | Refuse | Reuse - glass jars

In need of a vase? There's no reason to buy one when you have a perfectly good FREE one hangin' out in your recycling bin.

This is the latest edition of the Rethink | Refuse | Reuse photo series. We're talking straight reuse here! No artsy craftyness necessary.