Innovative Works of Art from Trash
Poor Artisans Turn Waste into Giftware
A guide to some of the unique handiworks people around the world are making from plastic bags, food wrappers and other trash.
You can find some of the world's poorest people on Earth in places like Africa, Asia and South America, but -- in those same places -- you can also find hard-working, innovative people who have figured out ways to create unique and beautiful objects out of the stuff we call trash.
From Burkina Faso to Peru, Ghana to Rwanda, Mexico to South Africa, artisans around the world are improving their livelihoods and building international markets with jewelry, toys and other items crafted from plastic bags, old magazines, candy wrappers, old telephone wire and more. Far from being cheap or junky looking, these recycled goods are beautiful, unusual and -- considering the efforts of those who created them -- inspirational.
To learn more about some of the creative ways in which disadvantaged people are converting waste into works of art, check out some of these projects and sites:
- BeadforLife: A group of women in Uganda is earning money for food, medicine, school fees and more by turning strips of old magazine covers and other waste paper into bright and shiny beads for crafters and for their own handmade jewelry. The paper beads are coated with clear lacquer but otherwise derive all their beauty from the printed strips of paper themselves.
- Crocheted plastic dolls and goods. In Burkina Faso and other West African nations, women have rid their landscapes of plastic bags that littered their neighborhoods and killed their livestock by using the waste to make crocheted dolls and other items. Children and teens help collect the bags, which are then cleaned and disinfected before being cut into strips, and twisted into plastic "yarn" that can be woven or crocheted. To learn more about these women and some of the retailers that carry their handiworks, see this article at Women's eNews.
- The Washington, D.C.-based Eco-Artware.com markets a wide variety of items made by innovative artists using unusual materials: South African women fashion one-of-a-kind bracelets using telephone wire, computer cable and plastic tubing; Zulu weavers turn plastic-coated telephone wire into multicolored decorative bowls; and Kenyan farm women use wool spun (on bicycle-wheel spindles) from local sheep to knit charming children's toys.
- Ecoist works with a network of fair-trade organizations around the globe that enable skilled artisans to market their unique, environmentally friendly creations to buyers everywhere. Among the products Ecoist sells are purses, belts, placemats and bracelets made in Peru and Mexico from discarded candy wrappers, food wrappers and newspapers. Ecoist also plants a tree for every handbag it sells; so far, it has planted trees in Uganda, Haiti, Mexico and the U.S.
