Collection corner

Sustainable fashion

Talk about making a (sustainable) fashion statement. At the 2016 Met Gala in New York May 2, actress Emma Watson donned a black-and-white gown made entirely of recycled fibers. The custom-made Calvin Klein dress featured three fabrics, each woven out of yarns made from recycled plastic bottles.

On her personal Facebook page, Watson describes the significance of the sustainable dress, saying, “It is my intention to repurpose elements of the gown for future use. … Truly beautiful things should be worn again and again and again.”

Watson says on her Facebook page that the gown was created through a collaboration among herself, Calvin Klein and Eco-Age, a London-based company that helps businesses introduce sustainable solutions.

“Being able to repurpose this waste and incorporate it into my gown for the Met Gala proves the power that creativity, technology and fashion can have by working together,” Watson explains in a post with the photo of her in the gown on her Facebook account, available at www.facebook.com/emmawatson/photos/a.360282067324023.88617.140216402663925/ 1255195171166037/?type=3&theater and pictured above.

Swap or drop

The school year may be temporary, but the waste students leave behind is long lasting. To lessen the amount of materials sent to landfills, the San Jose (California) Environmental Services Department (ESD) held for the first time a “Move-out Swap or Drop” event in May 2016 at San Jose State University (SJSU).

As students prepared to leave campus, rather than trashing textbooks, calculators, clothes, shoes, microwaves, DVDs, TVs, food and toiletries, the more than 500 items were collected for recycling or reuse.

Additionally, the recycling and waste management company GreenTeam of San Jose collected large items for recycling, resulting in 36 mattresses and 4 tons of other large items being diverted from landfills.

The San Jose ESD says because of the high level of student interest, it will continue to work with SJSU to promote reuse and recycling.

Bigger than the bin

For most young American adults and children today, the act of recycling is routine. To promote the value of recycling among youth, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, and JASON Learning started a Youth Video & Poster Contest.

“Recycling is Bigger than the Bin,” the theme of this year’s contest, welcomed students in grades K-12 to think outside of the bin and brainstorm how items beyond typical materials found in recycling bins—newspapers, aluminum cans and plastic bottles—are recycled. The team of Eleanor Small and Megan Onello, seventh graders from Hampstead, New Hampshire, won the grand prize in the video category, and Angelica Devers, an eighth grader from Kapolei, Hawaii, won the grand prize in the poster category.

“ISRI would like to congratulate the student winners who, through a combination of artistic ability and understanding of recycling, are helping to promote our industry to future generations,” says Robin Wiener, ISRI president.