Collection Corner

Positive poll

Photo: iStock Photo | Rafal Zdeb

A public opinion poll conducted by the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO), Columbus, Ohio, and the Columbus office of EMC Research shows the majority of Ohio’s Franklin County residents recycle because it’s the right thing to do and is good for the environment. The survey also reveals that limitations on what is accepted for recycling and access to recycling containers presented barriers to recycling for some residents. Visit www.swaco.org/333/public-opinion-poll to view the poll’s results.

Flint fit

Photo: Philippe Rohdewald

Artist Mel Chin launched a fashion project called Flint Fit after learning about all the water bottles being generated in Flint, Michigan, following the city’s water quality crisis. Flint Fit is being featured as part of Chin’s “All Over the Place” exhibit at the Queens Museum’s Watershed Gallery in New York through Aug. 12, 2018.

Flint’s lead-contaminated water has residents relying on bottled water for cooking, washing and drinking. (Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced April 6, 2018, that the state would stop providing free bottled water to the city of Flint.)

At Chin’s instigation, more than 90,000 used water bottles were collected by the people of Flint over a six-week period. Once sorted, the bottles were sent to Unifi Inc., a textile manufacturer in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they were cleaned, shredded and recycled into Repreve performance fiber. The fiber was then sent to Mount Vernon Mills and Texollini, where it was woven and knit into fabric.

Using this fabric, New York fashion designer and Michigan native Tracy Reese designed a capsule collection for Flint Fit. Reese’s designs were brought to life by at-risk women in the commercial sewing program at St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center in Flint, who sewed the recycled fabric into rainwear and swim garments for Chin’s exhibition.

Recycling retailers

Subaru makes cars and also is making a difference. Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based Subaru of America Inc. and its philanthropic platform, Subaru Loves the Earth, have announced a new partnership with TerraCycle, Trenton, New Jersey, designed to help divert hard-to-recycle materials from landfills and incinerators. The effort is an attempt to encourage people to think of recycling in new ways.

Beginning in April 2018, participating Subaru retailers received TerraCycle Zero Waste boxes, designed to encourage “customers, employees and community partners to recycle waste streams that are commonly thought of as hard-to-recycle, including snack wrappers/bags, disposable cups and lids and coffee and tea capsules.”