Our TfP bin is making appearances!

The Grammy winners are not the only ones receiving press this week. TfP made an appearance at Portland State University’s Career Fairs on Tuesday and Wednesday. Although there was no red carpet, our Trash for Peace bin came strutting out in its usual plastic bottle attire, and believe me, it looked stunning! And people did take notice; the career fair coordinator calculated out that people used 90% less bottled water than at the 2011 event. What a difference!

Next event is the 2012 Green Professionals Conference, where people come together to educate and motivate for more energy efficiency. Our very own founder, Laura, was asked to participate on a panel today as a representative for Trash for Peace to speak about the organization and spread awareness. She’s gonna wow the audience!

Check out more info on the conference here.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

TfP has been pretty busy these last couple of weeks, scouting out more materials and fantasizing about all the crazy, neat projects we can create. Just like the good ole elementary school days, we put on our rainboots and coats and went on a fieldtrip! To where, you may ask? Why, of course, to the endless rows of goodies at the ReBuilding Center on Mississippi Ave. We had a hard time putting items down, but luckily our founder, Laura, has a nice, big garage to store our treasure.

Next up: Putting on our work gloves because it’s construction time!

Trash Around The World

TfP is ecstatic to have connections that expand beyond the U.S. borders to gain more insight about our world waste. Our fellow trashy guru, Andrew, is collaborating with TfP from afar in the country of Bulgaria as a Peace Corps Response member. Andrew recently wrote a great piece about how waste is seen in an under-developed country and his new creation of recycled materials that will be used as an educational tool! (That’s so TfP!) Check out his project and amazing photos here:

http://www.andrewjudkins.com/2011/12/wiggity-wiggity-waste.html

Putting our designs to the (con)test!

When Trash for Peace heard about Coachella’s TRASHed : : Art of Recycling contest, we nearly fell over ourselves jumping at the chance to be a part of it! Coachella teamed up with the nonprofit organization, Global Inheritance, to encourage artists to create recycling bins for the huge music festival.

Wait. Design recycling bins, you say?! YES, PLEASE!

The TfP team quickly organized its resources and sent our designer to the drawing board to sketch out a Coachella-specific bin to wow the judging panel. We’re hoping to place in the top 50 artists to have our bin showcased at Coachella, so wish us luck!

For more info on TRASHed, check out this link:

http://www.globalinheritance.org/trashed-coachella-2012-call-to-artists

2012: Ready, Set, Go!

Trash for Peace is excited to kick off a new year with even more ideas and people to make them happen. Our founder, Laura, and innovator, Corey, have done a fabulous job of recruiting a team of young, motivated individuals to bring Trash for Peace to a new level. Joining the team is Lindsey, the incredible webmaster; Andrew, the technical expert/trashy guru; Meredith, the grant-writing crafter; Bonnie, the trashy-design conceptualizer; and Sarah, the social medialite. We’ve got lots of ideas and plans for this upcoming year so stay tuned to see all the new happenings. 

Another really great bottle idea!

Hey Y'all!

I have been sent this link by at least three people, and therefore I think that is a sign I need to post it in this blog! This link is about using plastic bottles to create more light in homes, they serve as lanterns with water in them, how cool is that!?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14967535

In other news, we will be partnering with a local school soon to build one of our first recycle bins in the classroom! I am excited and nervous, and will certainly post pictures when it is all said and built!

Have a great beginning of fall everyone!

Trash does not exist because....

OK. I am going to get better at this whole blogging/technology thing. I used to have the excuse that I just got back from the Peace Corps and therefore am out of touch with technology, but since I have been back almost a year now...

ANYWAYS, today I wanted to mention an idea I had. One of the main underlying themes of this organization is that trash does not exist. This is a concept that I think can be challenging for many people, especially for Americans, since so much of our culture is based on consuming. But I am sticking to my guns, and I really think that little by little we can change this way of thinking, and start to use less, reuse more, consume less, give back more. So I am starting us off on a very short mad lib of sorts. I write the sentence, you all fill in the blank:

Trash does not exist because....I can compost.

Trash does not exist because....I can reuse my paper grocery store bags.

Trash does not exist because....

Now it's your turn! I want to hear your ideas, because after all, that is the whole point of Trash for Peace!