Wearing your food - sustainable fashion

We live in exciting times where our challenges become a fuel for creations. Upcycling is where art, innovation, fun and caring for the environment marry: creating new from old, repurposing the not-needed, wearing our waste.

Hundreds projects have been presented where waste played the role of clothing. Repurposed plastic dresses, or paper fashion. They all point out to the fact that headless consumerism is uncool. While one could argue what is the "right level of consumerism", one thing is clear to most: Our rate of consuming supersedes, by far, our waste management efforts. 

Plastic bottles wedding dress, Ecouterre

Heaps of trash, even if redistributed or recycled at current rate, will not diminish if we do not cut on the speed at which we acquire our stuff. That makes me wonder what would world look like if our economy functioned in a closed circular loop just like nature where the old is a base of something new. Seemingly, the only solution to our wastefulness of all kinds...

A fashion designer, Hoyan Ip rises an interesting food for thought in claiming there is not much new in the fashion industry, most trends are re-interpreted season by season. With her Bio-Trimmings project she asks interesting questions and acts on what has been lately brought to our attention from many corners: wasted food. So can we wear our food waste?

Hoyan Ip's repurposed food

"As there are more and more designers emerging, there is very little we can do to dispose of the unwanted clothes ethically especially when you realise such sensitivity and thought has gone into making a garment. The solution is to re-use the clothes, de-brand them, repair them and wear them. However, for those who swear by iconic brands such as Chanel may disagree on what this project proposes. It changes the psychology of consumers on what we think about brands." 

The question is whether "adding products made from wasted food de-value the brand or add value to it because of its ethical reasons. Trimmings such as buttons, metal buckles and zips are all manufactured industrially where there are concerns on the impact it has on the environment as it consumes a lot of energy and fuel." (Source: Hoyan Ip)

To me, consuming is uncool. A new fashion is to care. 

Trash into music - when sky is the limit

The more we have, the more we waste. Did you ever think that "the less means more"?

Landfill Harmonic, Paraguay

Another story demonstrating that life is not about how much we have but how much we create.

My utmost admiration to those who created such unbelievable instruments and the children who play those fabulous tunes!

Can we all re-thing our waste?

RELATED: Other upcycling ideas

Meaningful gifts: last minute green presents

We all love presents. Also gifting others is a beautiful virtue and the happiness of the receiver gives one  feeling of an accomplishment. But the gifting ritual has been somewhat commercialized. Presents are exchanged out of duty with little thought over the meaning, person's desires or impact that our materialistic habits create on our fragile environment. The initial reason for giving -to make another person happy - has somewhat vanished in the capitalized world. Or is it that we are happy only when we receive stuff promoted with million dollar commercials? Sadly, in many countries and for many people shopping habits parallel a national sport. Presents quantity (the more the better, or price value) seems to be the criteria for a gift quality.

We shall not stop giving presents to others, not at all. We might, however, want to change the way we give. Giving is not about money. Meaningful presents can bring more joy! Be it Christmas, birthday or just a thank you presents.

The greenest of all green - give your time or talent 
Are you good at cooking, fixing cars, computers, playing a piano or knowledge of the city? Whatever it is that you are an expert in and what you enjoy doing, your natural talent can be a gift for your friend or  a loved one. You can give a guided tour of the city, cook and prepare a picnic basket full of goodies for your busy friends, give a computer lesson etc. Just try it, its a lot of fun. Sky is the limit!

My dad will get a voucher for spring cleaning of his summer home. I just need to role my sleeves up :-)

Can there be a greener present? Perhaps a prayer or an energy transmission. But I understand some might not be as keen on this option. This is more advanced stuff :-)

Upcycled - repurpose some of the many things you have 
For those that are more crafty and like to make use of old stuff (and lets face it we have heaps of stuff we don't use), this option might be an excellent opportunity for giving.

Some might think: "oh gosh, she reworks some of her old stuff as a present" and I say "oh, gosh why do people buy more of the stuff no one needs? All that quickly assembled 'made in China plasticky' stuff ". Don't you just prefer personalized presents that someone puts his time, thought and energy into?

Here is a repurposed necklace that I made for a girl

Conscious spending 
If you must spend, then why not consciously. Wide availability of eco and bio products exists. Ladies will surely appreciate some of the large number of genuine natural cosmetics. Other great green options might include vouchers for a massage, healing treatment or other experience. Also giving to others through charity on behalf of your friends has been a favorite option of many.

RELATED: Upcycle 

Chic presents without shopping

Have you ever wanted to give a special present to someone without going shopping? Have you ever wondered what to do with the numerous things you have and don't need? Trashing, recycling or giving away old stuff was no longer an option?

I have always admired patch work art but never understood why there is a need to cut a large piece of cloth only to sew it again. More logical would seem to me taking old clothes that have no use and create a patch work table cloth or a cover. Although I know little about it, was not that the original way how patch work was born? I would assume so.

I took up the challenge of creating a present without the need of buying anything new. Stuff that I had no use for were the ingredients.

Spared table mat, old children's pants, broken fridge magnet and a ribbon

Here is the result after a few hours work. A big smile of a 5 year old!

Can you tell the "Hugs&Kisses" teddy was broken with one ear missing? 

So how about getting rid of your "trash" by upcycling it into Christmas presents? Here are some ideas. Remember, the challenge is to make use of the old stuff. Buying things is the easiest thing to do!

Washing machine furniture - better than recycling!

It is not a revelation that environmental crisis is rooted in consumerism. While green consumerism is often proposed as a solution to the problem, switching from consuming conventional to green products will not, by itself, result into abating the environmental degradation. The size of our consumption matters. Therefore the key is to trim it.

Our society is about constant production of short term products that are dumped far too soon creating masses of waste and pollution. In the better case, a small percentage of post consumer waste gets recycled through downcycling - breaking products into smaller parts that serve as a material for new products, mostly of a lesser value. Unlike recycling (with its downcycling process), upcycling doesn't require substantial amount of energy to melt waste parts into new material before converting it into new products. I guess, in upcycling most energy is used in the thinking process and manual application. Upcycling is where old products are given more not less value.

Almost anything can be repurposed into new useful and trendy items. It depends on your imagination. I created a taburete from an old washing machine drum as a present. All items used, with exception of three wheels, were destined to be thrown away. Here is what resulted from an idea and several hours work. It was fun!

100% upcycled taburete from an old washing machine drum

By removing the pillow, the same taburete can 

be converted into a small table. Inside space is 

used for newspapers and magazines

The washing machine upcycling didn't end there. From another drum, we created an outdoor grill. However, others made washing machine drum into a lamp or a flower pot.

Other parts of washing machine can be repurposed too. I use the glass door that comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes as a bowl for fruit or as a plate under my plants.  I like the funky look of this irregular one.

Washing machine glass door used as a fruit bowl

RELATED: Rethink waste, wake up your arty soul
                    Forget bricks, plastic bottles are in!

Plastic bottle light bulb

Plastic bottles are a frustration for most environmentalists. Their quantity grows and very few get recycled. Here is another idea for plastic bottles upcycling - a free light bulb that doesn't add to an electricity bill and doesn't pollute. A simple solution to a large problem especially in third world countries.  If you would like to make such a lamp, you will need:

• a plastic bottle 
• chlorine
• water
• sun

Related: Forget bricks plastic bottles are in

Rethink "waste" - wake up your arty soul

Green living is thinking out of the box. There are so many people who give new life to old stuff and I have a great admiration for them. But you do not need to be an architect, designer or artist by profession to re-do things. All of us have an artistic soul and can make amazing stuff. Besides, don't you feel great about things you create yourself?

It is simple: use stuff that you would throw away. Think of "waste" as a material for creating something new and remember one man's waste, other man's treasure.

Here are a few inspirations. I particularly love Michelle's garden chandelier, bottle holder and bath rug made of old towels. You do not need to be an architect, designer or artist by profession. Let your imagination run wild.

And if you are an impulsive wine drinker, here is a garden torch from your wine bottles. So isn't green living fun? Sometimes it is just about letting away your fear and emerge in creation, it does wonder for your soul.

Photo from www.absolutebodo.com

Be arty, creative and enjoy! Don't forget you can up-cycle anything.

Forget bricks, plastic bottles are in!

One man's trash, other man's treasure. If only we all applied this slogan, we would get rid of piles of waste polluting this Earth.

Waste is a huge issue in all countries, let alone the developing world. ECO-TECH, a building technique which was born in 2000 with the vision of a German Andreas Froese, has been behind the construction of plastic bottle houses worldwide. The latest construction has been made in Nigeria of some 7,800 plastic bottles that would otherwise pollute local land and waterways. 

Andreas' invention tackles three big issues -poverty, insufficient housing and pollution- as he travels through impoverished world regions teaching locals how to apply this simple yet efficient technique. Collected plastic bottles are filled with construction waste or dry soil rather than sand forming a basic building block instead of bricks. These are secured with mud or other material creating a firm and insulated structure that is bullet proof and resistant to earthquakes. Besides, this construction is thought to be stronger than conventional one. 

With solar panel on the roof top, this is the greenest and coolest (indeed, no air-conditioning required) building I can think of for Africa. Next one up in Nigeria, a 220,000 plastic bottles school. And watch out for all the other ECOTECH constructions elsewhere.

Even better news is that Andreas is not the only one. Others were inspired by waste lying around and started their own creations. Plastic bottle green house that stand in gardens of many or a doormat created from the plastic bottle tops by Ervin Matela (Czech Republic) to name a few.

Don't you just love this? Thumbs up for you guys!

Related: War on plastic

Crafty green present wrapping

If you are one of the people who love to give presents regardless the occasion, then you will surely want to make personalized wrapping - environmentally friendly wrapping, of course.

In principle you can reuse anything that you have destined for recycling, from paper bags, newspapers, magazines, maps, books that nobody will read, plastic bags or cloth, socks and other old wear. Other materials such as laces, ropes, buttons, will do. For seasonal packaging, you may add flowers, leaves, dry fruit, pines or chestnuts to decorate the package. The advantage is that you do not have to leave your house or shop more. Just use what you already have. You can create reusable boxes for presents by wrapping old boxes or pack your presents in reusable shopping bag and top with a lace. You can involve children. It is so easy and fun!

Paper bag, newspaper with an article about money, rope,
seal and a coin was what I used to pack a purse for a friend.

There are limitless options and the guarantee that nobody will have the same packaging. So go wild!

RELATED: Power to change (Watch a movie Home)