Recycle. Redeem. Restore.
My $25 dresser find at Goodwill. Solid oak, beautiful marble top. Heavy as “homemade sin”. Just needed a little paint and new knobs.
I love finding “trash” and turning it into “treasures”. It goes along with my philosophy of “using it up.” It is practical, economical, environmental, creative and just plain fun.
Turning trash into treasures reminds me of God’s love and gift to us: He redeems, restores and recycles our experiences. There is nothing lost in God’s economy. He uses our failures, heartbreaks, hurts, sorrows all for redemption and re-purposing.
One of my favorite stories and verses in the Bible comes from Exodus. Joseph, after being betrayed, sold, falsely accused, imprisoned, and released, finds himself in charge of all Egypt’s food. He is second banana to Pharaoh. His brothers, the initial betrayers, leave their famine ridden country to come and try to buy grain. They do not know that Joseph is still alive. All they know is that they have to deal with this “Egyptian”. Eventually Joseph’s identity is shared with his siblings. While the siblings are visibly upset at seeing their brother whom they thought was lost, they do not ask for forgiveness for having “lost” (aka sold him into slavery) years ago. Joseph is the one who extends forgiveness to his brothers and says, (Exodus 50: 20) “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
I love how God takes the situation which others intend for harm and turns it around- both for the individual and for the larger community. He takes the brokenness and redeems and reshapes it into wholeness. Those whole individuals can become part of a larger community. It is a mosaic: the individual shards are brought together into a completed piece of beauty.
For myself, I love that God is in the recycling business. He can take anything that I experience and through His grace refashion it into something redeemable and good. I have seen time and time again God making things beautiful, in my own life, in the lives of family and friends and in the history of others. Individuals who have gone through hell on earth yet have come out on the other side- whole. It is those individual stories of redemption that encourage me to have faith in God when times are tough for me. Their story becomes interwoven into my story.
He calls us to be in the recycling business. He extends forgiveness and grace to each of us and asks that we extend that to others. He gives us the opportunity to join Him in being part of that redemption story.
If I am honest, while I can see the potential in a piece of furniture, a plant or cloth of material, I sometimes have trouble seeing the treasure in a problem person: those who, in certain church circles, are called “extra grace required” people.
I need to remember, like Joseph, that God is in control and that when things are difficult, trust Him. I may experience tough times but I need to hold on to the fact that if I completely trust Him, God will use whatever I experience and turn it into something beautiful. I also need to trust God that He is working out the same type of “recycling” in others, those who I think need “extra grace required”.
What about you? Do you recycle? Repurpose? Do you see potential in items? In people?
Civilized Recycling
When we were in Italy and Austria this summer I was in awe of the recycling and multiple use of items. No waste for them (or so it seemed to me through my rose-colored sun glasses). Restaurant orders on the backs of old receipts. Bring your own bags/containers/baskets for purchased store items. Container gardens in all sorts of items- bins, boxes, baskets, old tires.
I really liked Florence's organized street trash cans. They had containers for specific items: organic matter, paper, glass, plastic. The containers were solar compactors. On trash day a truck with a large claw like arm, lifted the individual containers from the sidewalk and opened the bottom to dump the contents into separated trash compartments on the truck. It makes such sense. From the users standpoint, there didn't seem to be too much difficulty figuring out what went in what container. One can feel good about recycling. The city remained relatively clean because all items have a place to go. The trash that can be recycled is and that which can be composted, does.
Trash cans lined up on the street.
Trash day. Truck's arm lifts the entire unit and empties into the appropriate collection container.
In our hotel in Florence, there was all sorts of artwork. What was so interesting was that all of the artwork was from recycled material. Some of it was purely decorative and others were useful.
The "chandelier" in our room. Look closely- see the water bottles, tops and metal bottom of cans? (I apologize, I couldn't edit the size of this picture.)
It makes me look at my space differently. It makes me think- how can I re-use what I am currently using?
Usually I am pretty good with the re-using of things. From old handkerchiefs becoming bathroom curtains to cracked mixing bowls becoming flower containers, I like to be able to use something in two, possibly three incarnations. Though, there are times when I am just ruthless and wasteful. I have been known to just "throw it out". When I am tired of having too many in my cupboard, or in having to move and pack up items, I get rid of it all. To the dump. I just don't want to "deal with figuring things out".
I think for me, it comes down to excess. When I have excessive amount of things it is easier to be cavalier and just toss. No wonder that Americans waste approximately 219 pounds of food waste/year. Who knows how much of our landfills are filled with plastic China made junk from the dollar store? Certainly we have plastic and trash floating in the oceans, and with wind and currents, converge into "islands". While there is debate over the actual size, all can agree that those items shouldn't be there in the first place. Click here for the facts from NOAA.
It seems when we don't have an excess of things, we tend to "use up" the items or reuse in another way and even discard it appropriately. We become more in tune with the items, "Can it be recycled or totally reused? If I cannot use it, maybe someone else can?" I know that I don't always dispose of things properly. You would certainly ascertain that if you looked at the contents of my trash can. But I do want to be creative in the way I use and reuse the items in my home. Not only does it give me a sense that I am being a good steward of the environment, but it is just plain fun to be creative. Whatever I have "created" doesn't have to be forever; some of those handkerchief valances have been replaced, but I was able to get a couple of years of extra enjoyment with them.
What about you? Have you ever thought about the trash you throw out? Do you have many trashcans out on trash day? Do you recycle? Can you recycle? Does your town, jurisdiction, county, village, province offer recycling centers? Before something goes to the trash heap, have you looked at it with new eyes? Can it be re-purposed?
Archeologists find many clues in the trash heaps of previous societies. I think societies will be judged by the way they leave their trash. How will we be known? Will our trash labels us as wasteful? As careless? Or will we be seen as organized and showing a good usage of what we have? Will we be considered civilized?
Before and after... We have owned those 2 black lamps for years (30+). In redoing the guest room, we needed another lamp. I painted one of them white so that it would fit into the decor better. I liked the white so much, since this photo I repainted the second black one so that in my office we now have a white one too. (I apologize but couldn't edit the size of this picture)
Zero Waste
You know how it goes, you start looking up something online which leads to a whole host of links, which leads to other links and before you know it, you find yourself down a rabbit hole of information that you wonder, how did I get here? Many times I groan because the rabbit hole has nothing useful nor is it informative. However the other day I found myself in a place and was interested and excited to be there.
I had found the websites about zero waste living.
"Zero Waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. No trash is sent to landfills or incinerators. The process recommended is one similar to the way that resources are reused in nature." (wikipedia) The concept was named in the mid-1970's through a company that was collecting and reusing chemicals that were excessed by the electronics industry. It has gone on through the years in government policy of reduce, reuse, recycle. It has morphed into two slightly ideologies: recycling of the product or the reuse of all the product in a high level function. For example, recycle the glass bottle (recovering broken glass) or refill the glass bottle (recovering the entire function of the container).
I found 2 websites that discuss the practicality of living a zero waste lifestyle. This is more than recycling. It is living in such a way that one doesn't produce or contribute to the landfills. Click here for zero waste home. Click here for zero waste girl.
My husband and I have always been interested in living an environmentally focused and friendly lifestyle. For me it began with my grandmother who was an environmentalist before it was a word or philosophy. She was just living frugally, practically and as a good steward of the earth.
While I applaud the efforts of the zero trash movement I really wonder what I can do? Could I go to zero trash? Our family does pretty well with trash or so I thought until I saw the Johnson family's mason jar of a year's worth of trash.
When our boys were living home we generally set out a small trash can each week for trash pick up. We felt pretty good about that. We recycle most of what we bring in. We do most of our cooking from scratch using fresh ingredients from the market and so the can isn't stuffed with plastic packaging. In comparison, we have a dear elderly couple living on our street. On Wednesday night they set out all four of their 33 pound sized trash cans for pick up the next morning. We have always said what possibly could they be throwing out? It is just the two of them. Each week those cans are lined up on the curb. I have never looked under the lids even though I have been tempted. (If I ever did, it would take the fun out of the conjecture!)
So, to read about a family with two teenage boys and one small jar of trash, I wonder how much time and effort they spend in thinking of being zero trash? Has it become second nature without becoming obsessive?
It has given me pause in how we life our lives. I do know that for any change or tweaks to our lifestyle, I have to find ways that this philosophy can work with what I am currently doing. I need to find small steps to integrate into my daily life. In reading over various blogs dedicated to this topic I see some actions we are already taking and am inspired to try some other ones. Click here to be inspired to practice small steps towards zero waste.
For me, it comes to being practical and realistic of our lifestyle, what we need to achieve and how committed we are to the future and to our world. I don't know if I will be collecting our trash in mason jars in the near future but I am definitely more aware of the plastics in my life and will choose to avoid them.
What about you? Have you heard of zero waste? Do you recycle? Do you practice elements of an environmentally friendly lifestyle? What does that look like? How does that impact you and your family? Has living environmentally sensitive impeded you in any way? Does your city or town have stores that practice or are open to practicing zero waste, e.g. buying in bulk, using your own containers?
Are you interested in moving towards zero waste?