re-users, re-claimers
Susan Miller linked to an inspiring video on Recycled Houses. Building communities by training those in-need/in-want to construct their own homes (re-)using salvaged materials. Fantastic.
I met someone, Friday, at the recycle bins behind the West Side Market. He was sorting for metals as I was making a drop-off. We talked; I have some things he might want. He showed me a few spots to leave him aluminum, brass, copper: toss it over this fence, cover it with these boxes, leave a bag as a signal under the corner of this dumpster's lid...
They have a bad name from the start -- "Scrapper" having a pejorative connotation -- and they've developed a worse one, as many are catching attention by stealing from and dismantling houses and buildings.
The profession, itself, though, is indispensable by nature, for nature, for all. I can't think of a much more admirable but undervalued pursuit than sorting others' trash to reclaim and reuse -- particularly considering our society's overconsumption, energy inefficiency, and pollution :: material abuse!
What if we started with a new, positive, name for the scrapper: Re-user? Re-claimer?
Help!
We could clean up our land, cut material costs, decrease waste, and employ many, if we would better codify the process and bring it out from underground. Formalize the networks of people and organizations involved: connect re-claimers with builders, deconstruction agencies, materials businesses, waste management. (Integral industry!)
It starts, though, with respect for and the re-naming of this pursuit and those that occupy themselves with it.
comments
My sister studied interior design at college way back when. She tried working in a furniture store right out of school, but she couldn't stand it. So since she had a degree that is about as close to home economics as you could get back in 1965, she turned her skills to social work. It wasn't the licensed sort of social work, she just helped poor families understand how to get by. She applied her common sense to the work. These people learned how to cook nutritious meals and have beautiful homes on their meager incomes.
She carried this with her into her own home. Her house in the New Hampshire woods is decorated in what she calls, "early salvation army". When she came to visit me in Cleveland Heights and saw what people put out on the treelawns, she was in heaven. We dragged home lamps and chairs - all sorts of stuff. My house is "early treelawn".
The recyclers come through our neighborhood on Sunday evening - trash night. Most people in the Heights know about this and separate anything reuseable from the kitchen/bathroom waste and regular recycling. You hope someone will come get that "____________" because otherwise you might have to pay the city to haul it away. Interestingly, neighbors can often be seen perusing the trash for reuseables on the next block or even next door.
While driving down our street one Sunday, we spied a futon, rolled and tied, standing next to a tree. It had a note on it that said, "Please give me a good home. I don't have pet dander or pee on me. I am practically new, but my owners can't take me to Santa Fe." My son is still sleeping on that futon.
Reusing is a noble pursuit.
-- Susan (March 30, 2008 6:22 PM)
Scrapper makes me think of scrappy. Not necessarily a negative connotation. I think there needs to be a separate term for those who STEAL from homes and buildings to differentiate them from individuals who creatively profit from what society has discarded.
-- jenita (April 3, 2008 9:21 PM)
Susan - I used to live in Cle Heights too, and much of my furnishings are c/o TrashDay Eve. Late treelawn? Are we near the end of the treelawn period?
Jenita - You're right, but maybe there is a name for them already: thieves.
Reminds me of how the term [for exploratory tech experts,] hackers, was mingled/mangled with the folks who break security for malicious purposes, crackers, and the media and general public couldn't quite wrap their heads around the distinction.
-- Jeff Schuler (April 4, 2008 10:51 AM)
"one person's trash, is another's treasure!"
hooray for people with disposable objects (and money to buy more crap to replace the crap they threw out).
I too have many furnishings from tree lawns, and furniture from 1997.
i love that video (i'm sure most of you have seen it) "the story of stuff"
one of the many reasons i admire "people who seem to have less than others". they should be employed by businesses. the irony of it all is that big businesses wouldn't thrive if they were forced to make things that lasted "forever".
word of the day: pejorative
love you jeff!!!
-- dr.B (April 10, 2008 9:44 PM)
I like the model that Patagonia and other businesses are developing, whereby they accept back old products and recycle the material into new ones. This maintains the company's revenue stream, allows them to continue to innovate, and keeps their products out of the trash.
Check out a fantastic talk by Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia's founder.
-- jeffschuler (April 12, 2008 11:48 AM)