LAC LA BICHE - Recycling isn’t just for household waste. Recently, a group of Lac La Biche-area residents were taught how to take a colourful approach to re-purposing their old clothing during a tie-dyeing workshop held at McArthur Place on Oct. 15.
The workshop was one of the events that took place in the Lac La Biche area for Waste Reduction Week from Oct. 14-21.
The workshop was a joint initiative between Lac La Biche County and the Bonnyville-based Lakeland Industrial and Community Association (LICA) Environmental Stewards.
The evening started with a presentation by Stephanie Sampson, the education and outreach coordinator for LICA. Those in attendance listened as Sampson talked about the history of tie-dyeing clothing, the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle in relation sustainable clothing practices, as well as techniques for how to refresh old clothes using naturals dyes.
Reusing clothing, Sampson, is crucial as these items don’t often get recycled. Tie-dyeing old clothes, she added, brings new life to them.
“From an environmental standpoint, re-purposing it is really important because there’s not a lot of recycling that happens with clothing,” she told Lakeland This Week.
Participants used a variety of coloured dyes made from red beets, purple cabbage, curry powder, and paprika, set about putting what they had learned into practice reprocessing their old clothing.
More clothes
Presently, Sampson continued, the general public is using and purchasing about three times the amount of clothing as it did in the 1980s. According to the LICA representative, much of this clothing finds its way into landfills or ends up incinerated as opposed to being recycled.
“So, we’re using quite a bit more coming from the textile industry, which means we’re also wasting a lot more as well,” she explained.
Bambi John Crocker was one of those local residents who took part in the workshop for Waste Reduction Week. Crocker attended the event because it gave her an opportunity to use her creative abilities while learning about environmentally-friendly methods of reusing clothing.
“With the landfills being filled up with all kinds of things that are taking up too much room, I think it’s great that we recycle what we can use,” she said.
In addition to re-purposing clothing, Crocker donates whatever garments she no longer wears to community organizations and also gives them directly to individuals in need.
“Sometimes, if I see the homeless and I can see that they need clothing, I’ll even donate some to them,” she said.
The Waste Reduction Week events is part of Lac La Biche County’s community programming.