Category Archives: Waste.

Re-Think Waste – Debris Demolisher

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Today I’m sitting in my off the grid 9 foot by 12 foot cabin. A kindling fire generating sauna-like temperatures on this drizzly morning creates a cozy atmosphere. When I’m here, my impact is low. It’s like camping – go to bed when it’s dark and rise with the light. There’s a lot of time for reflection when the world slows down. So I think, or re-think my impact on the world . . .

header-image-homelogoRubbish Renewed is all about re-thinking waste. In fact our tag line is Transforming trash, inspiring community for a sustainable earth. The purpose of trash fashion is to inspire individual and community thinking to shift and more importantly to motivate people to action.

Set an intention. What shift can you make from now on to lessen your impact on the earth?

P1040041-265x185The Rethink Waste Project helps Deschutes County residents and businesses make a difference through reducing, reusing, recycling and composting. Get all the info you need to rethink your waste at rethinkwastep roject.org. At the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show, use our refuse stations to minimize your impact on our planet.

The Coveted Trash Trophy

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Panambi Opazo Elliot with the Trash Trophy

Which business will win the coveted trash trophy this year?

Last December at the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show, we featured our first ever Business Challenge.  6 businesses showcased their creativity and dedication to sustainability parading their waste along the runway.  The competition between ReStore, Wabi Sabi, the Environmental Center, Cuppa Yo, UtilituSEW and the Horned Hand ended in a tight race.  In the end Panambi’s vivacious Cuppa Yo piece prevailed to win the first ever coveted trash trophy!

This year we will feature 8 businesses. ReStore and Wabi Sabi return to the competition, with the Workhouse, Spa-W, Barrio, Rescue, Sounds Fast, and Strictly Organic ready for the challenge.

Who will be the winner this year?  Come and cast your ballot, it’s the audience who decides.

Have you ever imagined . . .?

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Necklaces, zipper pulls, and earrings are the creations made by “Just A Little Charm” out of copper salvaged from the old Bend Bulletin’s roof.

Bend, Oregon is an incredibly cool place to live.  Although the community has grown substantially since I moved here in 2000, it still has a small town feel.  Walking downtown, I always bump into someone I know eager to engage in a meaningful discussion.  People here not only hold “important” conversations, like how to make a difference in their community, they take action.  One approach comes from the willingness, no, eagerness to think about waste, and to do something about it in an ingenious way.  I’ve never met so many creative, capable, motivated and sustainably minded people in a small area (accept maybe Lopez Island – but that’s another story).

So have you ever thought about tiny speakers built into reused ALTOIDS tins?  Sculpted bowls formed from old records?  What about bold jewelry and accessories created from vintage Formica or salvaged roof copper?  These are just a smattering of the imaginative and well-crafted offerings available this year in the Marketplace at the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show on December 6th.  Check out these pieces for a taste of what’s to come.

N. Spekktor specializes in handmade treasures created from household items, journals, and old vinyl records.

Connect the Minty Blaster to the headphone jack on your portable music player and its built-in amplifier will provide a roomful of curiously strong, curiously hip mono sound.

Marketplace spaces are going quickly, so if you are interested, checkout the vendor submission info and grab a space before they’re gone.

Create the 2012 Community Garment

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Designer: Karen Holm

How would you react to a friend  wearing a paper grocery-bag couture dress adorned with trash ornaments on a runway?  In 2010 this fashion-forward piece graced our runway, making an aesthetic statement for the environment. Conscientious residents of Bend created the Community Garment, making their often unconscious choices conscious by pledging to reduce their consumption and waste.  In 2011, we were inspired by the sterile hospital dressing that protects surgical instruments and is later tossed into our landfills.

Designer: Karen Holm

These are the types of fashion statements that don’t cost a lot of money, but move down the runway delivering a provocative message;  A clear message to rethink waste, our habits, and to decrease our impact on the planet.

This weekend Rubbish Renewed invites YOU to come out, rethink your habits, and make a pledge to decrease your consumption and waste.  Join us at Bend’s downtown Fall Festival to create the 2012 Community Garment. Find the Rubbish Renewed crew near the junction of Oregon & Wall in downtown Bend 11-5pm Saturday & Sunday.

Business Challenge Winner! | Rubbish Renewed

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Congratulations to Panambi Elliott who designed this show-stopping number,  right down to the shoes from Cuppa Yo’s waste.  Elliott collected discarded yogurt cups and spoons from the trash, hand-cut the waste, and then fashioned it into the fabulous garment shown below.  Elliott’s design was one of six “Business Challenge” entries and won the first ever “Business Challenge” Award, decided by an audience vote. 

Photos:  Panambi Elliott


trash hand-cut by ElliottRunway Photos:  Paula Bullwinkle

designed by Panambi Elliot

Create the 2011 Community Garment

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2010 Community Garment, created during First Friday last year.

I love this time of year!  More time with family, friends, holiday parties, and the 2nd annual Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show is upon us; just 10 days away.  Along with the season’s merrymaking, we can not ignore our increased production of holiday trash. The facts about holiday waste are staggering…

  • From Thanksgiving to New Years Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons – it all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. (EPA and Use Less Stuff)
  • In the U.S., annual trash from gift-wrap and shopping bags totals 4 million tons. (Use Less Stuff)

We believe in the power to educate, change, and inspire and want to invite you to come out on Friday night (December 2nd), during the First Friday festivities, to create the 2011 Community Garment.   To have a hand in this “show-stopping” number, stop by TBD Loft (upstairs at 856 NW Bond Street), and make a pledge to reduce your consumption and waste this season and for a lifetime.