Reuse

It’s easy to be discouraged by the tons of reusable materials that are never reused. Thankfully, a group of 20 artists now showing their creations in "Back Talk: Recycled Art" at the Columbia Center for the Arts in downtown Hood River are finding ways to make art out of materials that most people consider garbage. 

The Mosier, Oregon, company collects used bike chains from bike shops throughout the western US.

Simply put old chains in a box and call or email with the weight when the box is full (20-50 pounds is ideal).

They will send UPS to pick up the box the next day.

Resource Revival recycles tons of used bike chain every year, upcycling them into everything from keychains to picture frames to medals for bike rides and races.

From the NWPSC December 2017 Newsletter:

Opportunity to own a sustainable, bike-based, award- winning, mission-driven, local Portland business. 

Portland Repair Finder is dedicated to helping more people fix more things. The site make tools, knowledge, and resources easier to find, and helps tell the stories behind repair work.

​AOR's 2016 Alice Soderwall Reuse Award Winner just reached a remarkable landmark: through Cracked Pots' storefront ReClaim It! volunteers have rescued 300,000 pounds (or 150 tons) of materials from the local "dump" for creative reuse that were otherwise destined for the landfill. By weight, that's like saving 30 school buses, 5 baby blue whales, or 300,000 kittens!

In December, Oregon DEQ published a Reuse, Repair and Product Lifespan Extension Strategic Plan, which is available for download on the DEQ website. Many of you provided input to help develop that plan, which was much appreciated.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is offering ten scholarships for Oregon deconstruction and reuse professionals to attend the Decon + Reuse '17 conference in Portland, Sept. 25-27, 2017.