103
Spring 2014
Escarpment Magazine
Haveyouever looked
at a rarely-worn itemof clothingoranarticle
of home décor that just doesn’t work in your home andwondered if
therewas someway to keep these items fromgoing into the landfill?
BeaverValleyOutreach,anot-for-profit community-basedorganization
thatprovidesqualityprogramsand services forpeople in theTown
of theBlueMountains, hasahome for your good-quality
unwanted items.
Youmight say that BVOhasbeen in the3R (Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle)business formanyyears. ItsTreasureShop, abusy store
on Bruce St. in Thornbury, sells quality re-usable children’s,
women'sandmen’sclothing, toys,books, linens, sportinggoods
andhousewares. BVOTreasureShophas learnedhow to
“repurpose”and recycle,divertinga largenumberofuseful
items from the local landfill.Most items are sold in the
storeor used inBVOprograms. Somego tovari-
ous charities, organizations and families in
need, both local and fartherafield.
The Treasure Shop is a year-round hub of activity.
Withmore than70volunteers involved, the teamworksdaily
sort andpricea large volumeof items generouslydonated
from the community via drop boxes located beside the
store. For anorganizationof its size, BVOgenerates very
littlewaste. Because containers, paper, cardboard and
metalare recycled,onlyonegarbagecontainer typically
appearsat thecurb sideperweek.
Recently, BVO launchedanewonline storeon itswebsite
– TheOddShop. This is the placewhere you can go to
purchase higher endmerchandise that would have, in
past years, been showcased at BVO’s annual Silent
Auction.Hereyoucan findqualityone-of-a-kind items
including luxuriousclothing, art, silver, antiques, jew-
ellery, Royal Doulton figurines and vintage purses, to
namea few. Simplygo toBVO’swebsite–bvo.ca– to
purchaseonlineandpickupyour itematBVO. TheOdd
Shop’s selection of interestingquality goods changes
often, sobuyersareencouraged tocheckbackoften.
In recent years, an interesting trend has beengaining
inpopularityaround theglobe. It’scalled“upcy-
cling”.Simplyput,upcycling is theprocess
of convertingoldor discardedmate-
rials into something new, useful,
andoftenbeautiful.
Not tobeconfusedwithamore familiar term, “recycling”,which takes
post-consumer materials, breaks themdown and re-makes them into
newconsumerproducts (usingaconsiderableamountofenergy in the
process), upcycling items are re-fashioned rather than broken down,
and theendproduct is typicallybetter than, orat least the same
qualityas theoriginal item.
Anold leather jacketor leatherbelts transformed into
auniquepurse; colourful braceletsmade from sweaters;
curtains fromscarves;pillows from jeans, layeredskirts from t-shirts,
pendant lamps, shippingpallet furniture; light bulb vases - you
needonly tocheckPintereston the internet toseehowpop-
ular theactivity is,and themyriadof cleverupcycling ideas
that exist andareadded todaily. (Simply type “Upcycling
Pinterest” in the subject line.)
Upcycling is certainly not a new concept. The 1930s
and1940swerea timeof thrift–a timewhenourparents
and grandparents, with few economic andmaterial re-
sources at their disposal, reused and repurposed almost
everything. Feed sacks became dresses. An olddoor be-
camea newdining room table. And to this day, theMen-
nonites re-use fabric to create their famous folk art quilts,
prized for theirbeautyandcraftsmanship.
According toBVOBoardmemberKathrynRobson,upcycling is
adirection that BVOwould like toexplore in the future.Withan
endless supplyof re-usablemerchandise, the TreasureShopof-
fersavirtual treasure troveof rawmaterials foraspiringupcyclers.
“This issomethingwewould love tobe involved indown the road,”
shesays, “It isanaturalextension toBVO’sTreasureShopefforts,and
couldprovideanew revenue stream forourorganization.”
KathrynRobsonenvisionsa local upcyclingworkshopequipped
with industrial sewingmachines -available toanyone in thecom-
munitywhohas the timeand inclination tocreate itemsofclothing,
housewaresandevenart. “Weknow that somepeople in thecom-
munityare shoppingat the TreasureShop for items to upcycle,”
saysKathryn, “BVOhas the rawmaterialsand thevolunteers to
make ithappen.Wecouldsell theendproductsonlineorpos-
sibly in theTreasureShop.”
For more information on BVO, its programs and services and
the Treasure Shop, and to volunteer or donate to BVO,
please call 519-599-2577
or visit
BVO
ECO
C
HIC
embraces
