Taking a look at recycling clothes
An exhibition with a serious message will open at Ano¯ Ano¯, next to the Kaitaia EcoCentre, in Bank St, at 11am on Saturday.
Goodbye Normal Jeans (with apologies to Sir Elton) is another chapter in the EcoCentre drive towards zero waste, and finding creative alternatives to plastic, especially single-use varieties, and a response to an issue that many may be unaware of.
In NewZealand alone, Nancy Gregory said, an estimated 4 per cent of what went to landfill was textiles, equating to 100 million kilos a year. One kilogram of landfilled clothing produced 3.6kg of greenhouse gas, the United Nations estimating that the fashion industry created approximately 10 per cent of global CO2 emissions annually.
During Plastic Free July 2017 the EcoCentre, working with CBEC EcoSolutions, began making T-shirt bags from unwanted stock from the Salvation Army Op Shop.
Some bags went back to the Sallies, some to Kaitaia’s library, and some were sold for koha at the EcoCentre. Ateam of volunteer sewers also began making kai ta¯ia kete, reusable bags, often from recycled material. Last year the EcoCentre began renting the shop next door as a place to hold workshops and eco events. It became known as Ano¯ Ano¯ — Rethink, Repair, Reuse. And there the Clothing Rescue volunteers began repairing, upcycling and redesigning clothes from the Sallies’ unsold stock, for sale at the EcoCentre. Other items became pet beds for the SPCA.
Meanwhile, attending the Material Issues — textile and fibre works exhibition at Kohukohu’s Village Arts Gallery, and the work being done by EcoCentre volunteer Lyn Vos with old jeans, gave birth to the idea of staging Goodbye Normal Jeans.
Some of the artwork and pieces will not be for sale, but those that will be include bags, peg bags, aprons, skirts, jeans, shorts, Alice bands, earrings, cushions, table cloths, mats, bunting, vases and Christmas decorations. “The list is growing daily,” Nancy said.
Everyone would be welcome at 11am on Saturday, and thereafter daily, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 2pm, until Christmas Eve. Purchases need to be paid for in cash.
It was hoped that the exhibition might inspire sewers to join the Clothing Rescue workers at Ano¯ Ano¯ every Thursday, from 2pm to 5pm.