From garbage to garden or landfill to living room, it’s amazing what can be done with the usually cast-off! Although many of us now embrace recycling to some degree, landfills are still home to discarded but useful items.
That’s where the free to visit Waste Not Want Not – Landfill to Living Room event (noon-five on Saturday 8 March) at Ards Leisure Centre steps in.
As one of the Northern Ireland’s first public swap shops, the ancient practice of bartering will be reintroduced to an unsuspecting public, with the challenge to consider making their living rooms home to intercepted or reclaimed bits and pieces. The event invites visitors to bring items they can carry, such as small pieces of furniture, bric-a-brac and curtains to swap with others.
Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said: “Reusing, repairing or upcycling products is a real bonus for the economy and the environment. It provides local opportunities to develop skills and employment resulting in wider social benefits for the community.”
“The Waste Not Want Not – Landfill to Living Room event shows how valuable resources can be kept in use for longer, saving energy, reducing carbon emissions, and preventing materials from being dumped needlessly in landfills.”
“Innovative reuse of materials, showcased within this event, will assist our society to move to a circular economy, an economic system in which no materials are wasted; where materials and products are recovered and regenerated, rather than the ‘take, use and dispose’ mentality we have become accustomed to.”
On this occasion electrical items, toys and larger furnishings such as beds and settees are for logistical reasons not included. Sources for the swap can be auction pieces, car boot finds or simply something on skip row.
Organiser Gill McNeill said, “The swap shop will not observe an item’s intrinsic value. The main objective is to keep all that throw away ‘stuff’ out of landfill, increase recycling, encourage repurposing awareness and at the end of the swap, head home with an item that appeals.”
“It is anticipated that further swap shops will take place in the future incorporating various zones from furniture to clothing and plants to toys and everything in between.”
Adding: “East Belfast auction house Bloomfield Auctions have kindly donated items to start off the swap but we are hopeful that the event will encourage people to have a good rummage in their garage, loft or spare room and in the name of recycling, bring it down to swap!”
Any items left at the end of the swap will be donated to charity to ensure they are kept well away from landfill. One such well-known charity, Northern Ireland recycling-based retailer restore, will also attend the event to explain how they are meeting the ongoing task of up-cycling and repurposing everything from bicycles to furniture.
The organisation’s PR and Events Officer, Cathy Megahey said: “We love to encourage people to get creative with second hand furniture. For as little as £1 plus some DIY input and a tin from our salvaged paint range, smaller pieces can be transformed into bespoke additions that would look good in any living space.”
“Our restore shops in Belfast, Antrim, Larne and Ards sell pieces of refurbished furniture from small coffee tables to dining room sets, wardrobes and suites with a range of prices to suit everyone. Call in and have a look at some of our items to get your creative juices flowing.”
As an added incentive, a free to enter competition to find the best repurposed or up-cycled item saved from landfill will launch at the event. Visitors can enter the ‘Skip the Skip’ competition by emailing a ‘before and after’ photograph of the item saved from the skip to wnwn@takesplace.info.
Prizes for the best creations include a £250 IKEA prize voucher, a refurbished chair from restore and two composters from Ards Borough Council Waste Awareness. The competition closes on Friday 23 May 2014.
So if you want to help conserve forests, reduce waste, recycle valuable resources, and have a little fun in the process, it’s so simple – just reuse or recycle those curtains or that old piece of furniture!
A free make and take recycled craft is available for each child and for adults, plenty of common sense advise from a number of exhibitors and a few stalls from The Belfast Flea.
Waste Not Want Not – Landfill to Living Room is supported by Ards Borough Council, Ards Borough Council Waste Awareness and East Belfast Mission/restore.