Trash to Treasure… Or Something Like That, Pt. 3

Here’s the final part of my mini-series about my work in waste management as a Peace Corps volunteer:

RECYCLED ART

Ivonne picks a bright pink page from the ratty magazine she’s brought to class – it’s a Barbie advertisement, the doll’s blonde hair and blue eyes the envy of many a little Ecuadorian girl. Her eyes squinting in concentration, Ivonne slowly tears out the page from its binding, holding it up in triumph for me to see when it detaches smoothly, without any rips. She deftly makes a series of marks across the bottom of the page and then lines up her ruler to form small triangles stretching across the glossy paper, which she then cuts out and begins to roll around a toothpick. About thirty seconds later, she’s formed a small cylinder from the magazine page – a bead. 

Ivonne and Carolina work on their paper beads.

Peace Corps encourages its volunteers to work in waste management, and more often than not this work takes the form of recycled art. During training and at other events throughout our service, volunteers are trained to make artisan products – bracelets, wallets, and purses, among other things – out of recycled materials ranging from plastic bottles to magazines to Oreo wrappers. The idea is to “upcycle” these materials, or, in other words, to transform something that is seen as trash and as a useless waste product into something of value. And so, as in Ivonne’s case, a page from an old magazine can become a bead, and with several pages, she can make an entire bracelet.

Volunteers all over Ecuador do amazing work in recycled art. Some (like myself) make recycled art with children and youth, while others work with women’s groups, often selling the products they make for a profit. In several cases, this recycled art has become a fairly substantial additional income source that has given women more spending autonomy in their households and has allowed them to pay for expenses that might otherwise exceed their budget – things like additional educational materials for their children or new, time-saving appliances like washing machines, for example. With children, the aim is not to generate income of course but instead to foster both an awareness of how their solid waste is disposed of and managed and an appreciation for its potential uses and value.

Recycled art is an “easy win” project for Peace Corps volunteers, which is to say that it takes minimal inputs and planning but has potentially far-reaching benefits. I’ve therefore given it a large role in my environmental education curriculum at the elementary level, and the kids at the school seem to love it. The following pictures show some of the students from my environment classes working on recycled art: