The Art of Recycling

As I explored the city of Seattle for the first time ever (and saw way too many duck buses), I noticed to my right a few young adults stringing plants from three trees along a median. Very nice. Oh wait, those little plants are in plastic jugs! Ah, the mere thought of upcycling plastic bottles excites me. So I quickly urged my friends to cross the street to get the inside scoop.

Three students from the Art Institute of Seattle were working on a project (this homework is too easy!) focusing on sustainability! All the plants were edible, consisting of lettuce, herb and veggie varieties. The students said the point was to exemplify how simple it is to recycle and garden all at the same time in an urban setting. And so simple it is!

The students rigged up a portable irrigation system by turning a big water container upside in a tree, where the water drips through rubber tubing along a rope.

Just a couple rows of herbs, lettuces and other edible plants.

Now I may be a bit biased but Portland has got to have more homemade, sustainable solutions throughout the neighborhoods. Please send in your sightings and we'll post about them!

A Street Fair of Fun

Thousands of people flocked to Mississippi Ave's Street Fair last Saturday to enjoy the strong sunshine, the everlasting line of arts & craft booths and of course, bin building with Trash for Peace! We first want to give an enormous thank you to mr.greenbeans, a small DIY shop with big ideas, for inviting us to come and set up in front of their shop. We had numbers of people stop by and couldn't have done it without mr.greenbeans!

We couldn't have asked for a better day and a better response to TfP. A steady flow of kids, followed by their parents, curiously entered the booth to see what they could get involved in. At last! A craft they could touch and play with. (Don't worry parents, we clean all of our plastic bottles).

The children loved picking out the right bottle or can, stringing them with twine and sliding the bottles to fit snugly on the bin. The kids would get so involved in the project it was finally the parents encouraging them to keep walking through the festival.

While showing students how to build the bins, I kept overhearing tidbits on recycling plastic bottles and drinking from reusable water bottles. The TfP team just can't forget sneaking in our educational component!

 Check out our Facebook for more photos and mr.greenbeans web site for more DIY ideas!