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Showing posts with label Re-Purposing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Re-Purposing. Show all posts
Monday, December 10, 2012
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Container Homes!
Built tough from weathering corrugated steel, these incredible tough building blocks of international trade are designed to withstand stacking, stuffing and strapping and are reused over and over again. There is an estimate of over 18 million of these containers floating, riding and flying around the earth today, but the most recent sustainable design trend has found these containers revamped to contain a more delicate cargo: People.
More Here
Monday, July 13, 2009
XS Projects
A great clip about one woman's idea on how to help the poor of Indonesia support themselves while alleviating the trash problem as well. Check them out at XS Projects.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Earthships
If you have never heard of Earthships, they are worth checking out. The brainchild of Michael Reyonolds they are off grid structures, built using recycled and repurposed materials (including car tires and cans) and are not only cool, but affordable and sustainable. Even if you never have the option of living in something like this, they are worth checking out for their ingenuity alone.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Check Out Freegeek.org
OK, so I'm a sucker for anything with the word geek in it. That said, this is a pretty cool organization with chapters all over. They take old computer systems, refurbish them, and then donate them to non-profits along with training if necessary. How cool is that. Freegeek, check them out.
Dave
Recycle Your Old Jeans
Well, if you live in the UK anyway. Kind of a cool thing though. I haven't contacted them but plan to when i get some time to check them out. i like the concept though. Anyone done this?
And thanks to Chantel for sending this along.
Dave
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Run your business on Veggie OIl?
And you thought veggie power was just for the road. Check out the Vegawatt and use that unwanted fryer oil to run your business!
Dave
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Plastic Bags: Easy Solutions
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Makers Are Simply The Coolest Thing Going!
For those of you who aren't familiar with Make Magazine or the Maker Movement you're missing out on something cool. The Maker movement is all about re-purposing, but to the extreme. According to the Maker Bill of Rights if you can't hack something, that is crack it open and turn it into something better, than you don't truly own it. I love that.
Now this may seem like an odd topic for me to post on, after all, we're not all mad tinkerers, or many of us, like myself (just ask my wife) are, but are not all that successful at it. But in reality, these guys are doing exactly what I'm all for. Check out this piece on NPR about a guy named Mr. Jalopy and you'll see that he's all about taking otherwise useless items, broken bikes, and old broken phonograph system, and turning it into something useful. In the process, he not only diverts things from the waste stream, but also creates a valued commodity, and potentially eliminates the need for a similar new product. How awesome! He's got a really great riff on our throw away culture too. Check it out.
Dave
Monday, May 19, 2008
Build your own Newspaper Hut!
Have too many newspapers, even more than your worms can eat? Well fear not thrifty re-purposers, here's a cool tip from the web about a way to turn those old news stories into a world of wonder for your kids. Just think, re-purposing and family fun all rolled into one.
Awesome.
Dave
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Take Back The Filter Campaign
This is a really great campaign that Beth over at Fake Plastic Fish spearheaded. Clorox, who now owns Brita North America, does not accept filters back for recycling and re-use while their European counterparts have been doing this since 1992. It makes no sense and in an environment where people should be heading towards filtered water and away from bottled, we need to keep the pressure on companies to be responsible for the waste involved in the filters. For more info about the campaign check here and makes sure to sign the petition as well!
Dave
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Awesome (and funny) UK Re-Purposing Site
My buddy Augie sent this site to me a while ago and i'm finally getting around to posting it. It's called How Can I Recycle This, but it's really a guide to finding uses for all sorts of things as opposed to recycling or trashing them.
Have too many After 8 Dinner Mint Boxes lying around? Fear not, apparently they make great filing cabinets for seeds.
And what to do with all those pesky plaster foot molds you have left over from making orthotics (come on you know you have them)? Their solutions ranged from doorstops to lawn ornaments to using them inside other shoes to help keep the form.
Not all the ideas are the best, but it's lighthearted and actually has some good ideas.
Check it out, I know I will.
Dave
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Peanuts! Get Yer Red Hot Packing Peanuts!
Packing peanuts. If you are anything like me you hate these things, but somewhere deep in the recess of a closet, you have a large bag of them waiting to be sent off to some unknown destination. Come on, you know who you are.
Well fear not, friendly peanut hater. While they may keep coming at ya whether you like it or not, there are now options. For starters, stop buying so much stuff online (kidding, well, not really, but....anyway). Check out the Plastic Loose Fill Council which believe it or not actually offers a hotline and online resource to find places to return these things where they will actually get re-used. Get that, re-used, not recycled or re- whatevered, but re-used for the purpose they were originally made for. Cool huh? I wish they'd stop making these things in the first place but if they are going to, at least they can get re-used so less of them need to be made.
And if you're looking to gripe on the subject, check out this I Hate Packing Peanuts website.
Dave
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The Compact
I had heard of this before, but didn't know much about it until last week. The Compact is a group of citizens that originated in San Fran about a year and a half ago, who pledged to buy nothing new for a year except food and items related to personal hygiene and safety - brake fluid, underwear (is that safety or hygiene?), toilet paper, etc.
I think this is a really fantastic idea and it seems to have caught on quite a bit. I'm now a member of their yahoo group and the amount of posts they generate are simply staggering. These people mean business. And the great thing is that since they are all in it together, they share ideas on how to get around purchasing problems.
Now for those of you who are thinking uggh, a year without buying anything, think again. They are just not buying anything new. I personally check craigslist for just about everything before I buy something new, simply to avoid all of the packaging and to take myself out of the production cycle. So they're not living frugal lives necessarily, just thinking more about their purchases and considering what's important.
Here's a great list i saw posted by one of the groups members. It was actually printed ona little credit card holder and was intended to make you think before pulling it out. This is waht was printed on the holder:
I want my money to support the environment.
* Is this purchase something I need?
* Do I already own something that will serve the same purpose?
* Can I borrow one instead of buying new?
* Can I make something that will serve the same purpose?
* Can I buy a used one?
* Would someone be willing to split the cost and share this with me?
* Can I buy or commission one made locally?
* Can I buy one that was made with environmentally responsible
materials?
* Can I buy one that serves more than one purpose?
* Can I get something human powered instead of gas or electric?
* Can I compost or recycle it when I'm done with it?
* Have I considered the impact on the environment of the full
lifecycle of it - did the manufacture or disposal of it damage
the environment?
Great questions and a really good list to go through before making a purchase.
Dave
Friday, January 11, 2008
Foxy Frocks Dresses!
A little shameless plug here but for a really great homegrown enterprise that fits in nicely with the general concept of re-purposing, and then does it one better.
My friend Shannon, her sister, and her Mom started a dressmaking business a while back called Foxy Frocks. They hand make (themselves mind you) awesome little one of a kind dresses for little girls. And if that isn't cool enough, they make them out of remnant cloth from the garment district in downtown LA, so they are essentially using stuff that would be discarded anyway. Very cool (and great dresses to boot).
If you check out the site, you may notice that the dresses are slightly more expensive than you can get at a place like the GAP, but I think what you need to ask yourself is are these too expensive, or are those prices too low. I think you'll find the latter as these dresses are worth it and then some, and the fact that they are one of a kind, only adds to their value.
Here's what Shannon has to say about them:
"We see dressmaking as an art form, something that should be done with care and not in a sweatshop! We use a minimal amount of materials in crafting each dress and we buy our fabric in the Garment District here in Los Angeles, the same city where we make our dresses. Whenever possible, we try to purchase the bolt end pieces of fabric...aka the "scraps" - tiny pieces that usually end up in the trash! We make something beautiful from leftovers, what better way to care for the planet! We also use recyclable packing - feel free to request less packaging and we'll be happy to ship your frock in a recycled bubble wrap packet. Every frock is a handmade, one-of-a-kind little treasure. We try to keep our prices low so that our frocks can be available to everyone. Our goal is not to become rich, it's to celebrate the art of dressmaking, and to inspire others to create their own individual works of art."
Foxy Frocks - check it out.
Dave
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Coffee Problem Solved
If you're like me, you can't really do too much without a good cup of Joe in the AM. We make our own coffee here at home and I always use a re-useable travel mug, but what has been bugging me since the beginning of this project (and why you haven't seen so many coffee ground listings in "the haul") are those crazy plasticoated bags they come in that are not recyclable and have limited re-use potential.
So this morning, I headed over to Whole Foods and had a really interesting talk with Richard, the guy who's in charge of the coffee area there (and incidentally it's his first day at that, after being promoted so way to go Richard). I explained to him what I was up to and told him I wanted to figure out a way to be able to come to Whole Foods and buy coffee without wasting a bag each time. I asked him if I could just bring in my own container to fill, but he mentioned that when they weigh it up front, the weight of the bag is already calculated in. While I might not mind paying the extra charge for this I'd have to probably explain everything again each time I bought coffee and don't really want to go that route time and again.
So what we ended on was this. Next time I head there I am going to buy my coffee in one of those sturdy little coffee bags that I hate so much, filling it up from the bulk coffee bins (they have fair trade shade grown so it's pretty good stuff). I'll bring that home, pour it into our coffee bean mason jar, and fold up the bag until next time I need a fill-up. Ironically, the thing that makes these bags such a nuisance, the way they are sturdily built and therefore not recyclable, is going to be an asset because I really don't see why I can't get through the year (and then some) on one bag.
At home we have a little grinder and french press manual coffee maker, so that's all relatively waste free, and the grounds can go in the worm composter, the garden, the lawn, or a number of other places. If anyone has any other thoughts, I'm game.
I'm psyched (and amped on coffee).
Dave
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Old Hair Bugging You?
Why not collect it up and send it off to Matter of Trust so they can use it to make mats that help naturally clean up oil spills.
Yep, you read that right, your hair can clean up oil spills. Beth at Fake Plastic Fish left this in the comments section and i thought it was worth posting about. Now I know in the grand scheme of things, cut hair is not one of the larger problems out there. On the other hand, if this stuff is a free and abundant resource, and it can be used to do something as good as cleaning up toxic oil spills, why not jump on board? It seems like they are interested in hooking up more with salons than with single individuals which makes sense, and sign up is free, but for $10 they will send them some posters etc to announce what they are doing. Why not pass this info along to your local haircutter and let them know that this is an option? I know if I was cutting hair for a living this would be a no brainer.
Folically Yours
Dave
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