Pink is the new green

St. Patrick's Day kickstarts the spring season with its bright, grass-green colors abound...just as refreshing to see as that green beer tasted yesterday. But out with the green and in with pink! (Okay, so we could never really get rid of green but pink is good too!) Spring blooms in front of our faces as pink flowers blossom on trees, brightening the sky and our moods. Let's celebrate by making art with plastic bottles! It's super easy, super cute and uses plastic bottles as a medium. Now this is our kind of craft project.

Check out this site for how-to instructions. Get your paintings ready for National Cherry Blossom Festival on March 20th!

What do you do to reduce waste?

Students at PSU's Take Back the Tap event responded! And responded with clever and witty answers for that matter:

Let us know what you do too! We would love to hear your ideas!

Practice makes perfect

After collecting our treasures from the Rebuilding Center a few weeks ago, the TfP team put our minds together to visualize and construct new bin prototypes. After a couple of tries that were not up to par with our classy trash standards, we finally hit success! We have a lovely, new, smaller-version bin complete with bottles, tire tubing and cabinet doors, perfect for the indoors! Order one for yourself today. We would love to build ya one.

Bin creations in Bulgaria

TfP is excited to see bins being built in Bularia! And by children too. Our collaborator, Andrew, has been coordinating workshops with students to build recycle bins out of plastic bottles and they are loving it! And so are we. Here are a few photos of the action:

More stories to come! But for now, check out more awesome photos of the events here and here.

Bottle Cap Bin!

Rolling out the Green Carpet

As you know, Oscar attire is just as important as the nominees. And one of Hollywood’s biggest names, Meryl Streep, came to the event in an Eco Certified Fabric dress that stunned the crowd. 

 Meryl Streep, who knew that recycled material could be so fabulous!?

The leading lady behind the sustainable style push is Livia Firth, actor Colin Firth’s wife. Livia created the Green Carpet Challenge and teamed up with top designers to fashion the gowns. See, recycling is sexy! (We’re just glad we’re not the only ones who think so.) Read more about Livia’s going green here.  

PSU's Career Fair Photo-Op!

TfP partnered up with Portland State University's Career Fairs last week with the goal of reducing water bottle waste. The event showcased TfP's bin to encourage recycling along with water containers to fill up participants' reusable drinking bottles . The coordinator tracked the difference from last year of using 90% less water bottle waste...90%!! It's almost unbelievable yet so motivating to TfP to keep on spreading the word. Take a look at some photos from the event:

Our bin being a little wallflower, so adorable!

Clean, fresh water. Step on up and fill up those reusable water bottles!

Laura doing double duty by promoting Peace Corps and encouraging reducing waste.