GreenJean Apron
Recycle2shop is back at Government Street Market with a new range of textile upcycling - GreenJeans - unloved denim rejuvenated as GreenJean Aprons. Our customers love them for their sturdy nature, whimsy and unique design.
We still offer a varied range of upcycled goods at the Market - from recycled wood soap dishes to copper jewellery.
See you there next Sunday.
GreenJean Bags
Leona is taking her upcycled products to Government Street Market this Sunday, from 11am to 4pm. Government Street Market is on the block beside China Town Gates, this market is full of local artists and craftspeople (we have loads of fun as well). Come on down - ask all the questions you like, get tips on eco friendly living (or not) or even just to say hello.
Returning from a very successful craft show & sale in Victoria - the interest and support from everyone who stopped by our booth is what makes this project so worthwhile.
I love explaining that plastic bottles turn into soft, durable fleece and nylon (made into the baby rug pictured - overlooking the ocean in this view from a Victoria clifftop). We sold out of these great little gifts so it’s back to the sewing machine for me.
Victoria CRD (waste recycle) are looking into wood recycling - the UK has been working on a similar project and LetsRecycle has the latest news.
We are off to sell our re-goodies in the Pearkes Centre Tillicum, Xmas Fair this weekend. Come and say hello!
Spent the last weekend at the BC Womens Show at the Pearkes Centre. It was way too nice out for people to be stuck indoors. The few that did attend were all very interested in products made from recycled materials (known in the ‘trade’ as ‘recyclates’). Surprise and delight being the main reactions - yes, recycled can be elegant, trendy and sophisticated.
My Bokashi composter is working a treat. If it’s the 2nd Saturday this week then it must be recycling day down at the Fernwood Community - that’s for my bags
of plastic bags and tetra packs (Recycle2shop sells Christmas ornaments made from those Tetra Packs). These pretty vases/T-light covers are remade from coloured recycled plastic bags for sale on our ebay store.
Talk about plastic bags - the big controversy in the recycling world at the moment is all about biodegradeable plastic. Unfortunately, biodegradeable bags cannot be recycled into anything and they contaminate plastic recyclates making them unuseable. ‘Biodegradeable’ only breaks down if exposed to oxygen and our landfills are not known for their oxygen content. Landfills are anaerobic - that’s why they produce the greenhouse gas, methane. So the answer to plastic bags contaminating the earth is not to try to solve the problem by using a substitute plastic. Brown paper is at least compostable. We need lateral thinkers to solve this conundrum.
Anyone with a eco friendly garden/bit of earth can compost everything out of the kitchen…bread, bones, fat, protein, in fact all the leftovers that cannot go into green composters.
All you need is the Bokachi system: The system needs a bran mix invented by the Japanese - basically bran and molasses with the magic ingredient - micro-organisms; these ferment the kitchen scraps in any plastic container (recycled, of course). There is no smell and once your container is full - leave for 2 weeks and then deposit in your compost or dig into the ground.
More details available soon on our ‘why recycle’ pages.
Leona is off to the mainland for a conference - carpooling, naturally.