Master Recycler

I am proud to announce that I am now a certified Master Recycler. I recently graduated with the first class in the Columbia Gorge in the Master Recycler program. We are a group of 13 who are passionate about recycling and who will do our best to educate the community and make healthy changes in our communities. We are each required to give back 30 hours in our community and I am hoping to spend much of my time in my daughter's school, helping it become an Oregon Green School.

As you may have been able to tell, I am also passionate about diverting waste and finding a new purpose for materials that may otherwise be at the end of it's life. I love using recycled sweaters to make new items and an currently working on a hat pattern that will hopefully soon be perfected.

With my craft business, I am also doing my best to be a no-waste business. I make my diaper covers with new materials, but use every bit of those materials so that none of it is thrown away. The scraps from the PUL (poly urethane laminate), used as the waterproof layer of the diaper covers, is used to make reusable sandwich bags. I also use scrap fabric along with fabric from my extensive stash in the reusable sandwich bags. The cotton scraps from the diaper covers are used to make a variety of crafts; headbands, stuffed animals, a quilt... whatever I can make! The small scraps from all of my projects are given to a friend who uses them as stuffing for pillows.

My wonderful family surprised me with this great sign of congratulations made from what they could find in our home recycling bin. Aren't they creative!