Tribewanted: Vorovoro

late night ramble as i’m trying to fall asleep…thinking more about the sustainability forum we had while i was on the island a few weeks ago. the topic was WASTE and how we can do more from our urban perches in the city. so, i wanted to touch on some key ideas:

- BULK – if you think about where most of our waste comes from, it’s packaging for everything that is “conveniently” in single servings. buying in bulk, whether it’s loo roll or granola, means less packaging waste. so, consider assessing what you come home from the market with and how you can make small adjustments.

- CONCENTRATE – more and more cleaners are coming in concentrated forms, and this also means less plastic bottles generated. dr. bronner’s magic soap is notorious for their “dilute! dilute! dilute!” slogan, and it’s a great message in general. you can read more about dr. b’s here:

http://www.tribewanted.com/users/259/blogs/1112

- REFORM – while ben and gilo love to poke fun that everything i own used to be something else, i am simply delighted by reformed objects which find new life. so, not only can you stop using plastic bags to cut back on waste, you can also create NEW bags from things that would have been thrown away. an brilliant example are city bags, by kendra stanley, made from old raincoats:

http://www.citybagtrade.com/

so, now, when an old coat gets a hole or goes out of fashion, she’s able to get the most out of it in a new form. it’s worth considering what can be reincarnated in your own living space. and there are lots of textile artists like kendra and recycled-sweater-blanket-maker, crispina, who will take your old cast-offs and give them some love and a second chance.

http://www.crispina.com/crispina_site/index_2.html

any other ideas?