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Want to do your part to be kinder to the environment and also shop for your loved ones this holiday? Take a look at this list of eco-friendly products that include long-lasting, plastic-free, sustainably sourced or repurposed gifts that your family and the planet will appreciate. Shopping at Upworthy Market means directly supporting the artisans who craft their products, so with every purchase, you do good.


1. Recycled Paper Journal

With brown hues that evoke autumn, this journal is handcrafted of recycled paper by Mexican artisan Indira Flores. She applies the designs using colors from the bougainvillea flower, lining the spine with black leather. The journal opens to 76 pages of recycled paper.

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2. Handmade Wooden Desk Calendar

A sophisticated addition to any office desk, this calendar is the perfect accent for marking the passage of time. Never out of style, the calendar is handcrafted from local rain tree wood by Thailand's Waraporn Khamsuk, and consists of a stand that houses numbered tiles resting just below month tiles. Each tile is made so that it can be removed and replaced with another, capable of displaying every day of the year.

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3. Recycled Paper Earrings

Akwele Suma designs earrings of maritime charm in a festive red hue. She recycles paper by folding it into boats with terracotta masts and recycled plastic bead anchors. These Ghanaian handcrafted earrings exude playful naivete and an eco-conscious mindset. The artist uses the paper at hand so paper colors will vary, making each design a unique example of handcrafted art. The beads receive a protective coat of clear nail polish.

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4. Recycled Rubber Sling

Dedicated to the use of eco-friendly materials, El Salvador's María Ruffatti designs this sleek and simple sling handbag. The bag is handcrafted from recycled rubber and drapes over the shoulder on a single adjustable strap. A pocket at the front opens with a magnetic snap for storing small items. The bag's main compartment opens with a zipper, revealing a lined interior with an open pocket on one side.

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5. Recycled Wrapper Shoulder Bag

This colorful shoulder bag comes from Maria Isabel Ramos in Guatemala. The eco-savvy designer knows the metalized wrappers used for sweets and chips are not biodegradable; therefore, in an effort to preserve the environment, she transforms them into a trendy accessory. "My favorite color is silver, but I also like bright colors," says Ramos of this shoulder bag. Entirely crafted by hand, the bag is lined with cotton and features an inner pocket.

6. Coconut shell piano

The kalimba, or African thumb piano, is easy to play and pleasing to the ear. Crafted from hollow coconut shell and painted in bright colors, it features a sea turtle on the front. The kalimba produces an array of varied tones when the stainless steel "leaves" are plucked with the thumb. This petite and portable instrument is perfect for reproducing elements and tones of tribal music with ease, and is presented by Trisna Dewi.

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7. Handmade Recycle Whale Sculpture

Working to clean up oceans and waterways, recycle, and employ the local community, Ocean Sole of Kenya creates amazing sculptures from recycled flip-flops. This colorful whale shark sculpture is formed and hand-carved from approximately nine flip-flops, and can take as long as seven hours to create.

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Savers + Value Village

The school year is ending, and that means kids are coming home from college.

They're also bringing piles and piles of stuff with them. (So, so much stuff.) Used books, loads of clothes, and knickknacks galore.

And don't think you're off the hook if you don't have college-age kids. As the K-12 school year also winds down, you've probably got a whole lot of not-gonna-be-used-anymore items cluttering up the house, from old school clothes to forgotten toys to sports gear that needs upgrading.


According to the Council for Textile Recycling, Americans purchase or obtain 80 billion pieces of new clothing each year. Often, after one wear or one use, we're done with it. We toss it, and that stuff ends up in a landfill. Not only is this cycle of waste bad for the environment, but it's also a missed opportunity to model fiscal and social responsibility. ‌‌

But summer also gives us a unique opportunity: When the kids are home, it's the perfect time to shed excess stuff.

All images via iStock.

Collect unwanted items and give them a beautiful second (or even third!) life by donating them to a nonprofit organization at your local Savers or Value Village location.From your college kid's dorm room furniture to your growing middle-schooler's barely worn basketball shoes, all of these things can be donated to help a charitable nonprofit organization in your community. Plus, you're helping the environment too. According to the Savers State of Reuse Report, 71% of North Americans say a key benefit to donating unwanted items is knowing that others could be positively impacted.

And if you don't know where to start, here are 13 ways to start the summer with a clean slate:

1. Get your kids on board‌‌.

Don't sort through all this stuff behind their backs! It's better to donate together so that your kids can decide what items can go to someone else who could need them more.

2. Give one, get one.

Giving away old things also makes space for the new things you want or need. So while you're donating all your old stuff, why not also make a list of the things you need and pick it up at Savers or Value Village while you're there. Plus, if the kids know that donating stuff means they also get the new things they want, there's an extra incentive to take part in the process.

3. Arm yourself with the answer to "Why?"

"Just because" is never a good answer when it comes to convincing your kids to do something. Frame the cleanout as a learning opportunity and let them know that this exercise in decluttering will not only lead to a cleaner and more organized living space, but it's going to have a positive effect on your immediate community and the environment.

The average North American threw away 81 pounds of clothing last year, and it can take about 700 gallons of water to manufacture one cotton T-shirt. That's a lot of resources that are being thrown away!

4. Raid your cabinets.

Calling all board games, athletic equipment, and homeware: Savers accepts more than just clothing on behalf of nonprofit organizations.

‌‌5. Tackle the toy chest.

Aka the hiding place for the hottest toy from last Christmas and all sorts of other stuffed animals, action figures, dolls, and other toys. Open up that chest and help your kids assess what to donate and what just needs new batteries.

6. Donate your college kid's books (especially if they can't be resold at the bookstore).

And not just textbooks either. Paperbacks — including that young adult series they read last year — can be donated too.

7. Take the "joy test.‌‌"

Organizing expert Marie Kondo gained massive notoriety for heralding this technique in her book, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up." Hold up each item and ask your kids (and yourself) to be honest: Does it bring you joy? If not, donate.

8. If items belong together, donate 'em together. ‌‌

Have a bunch of plates with the same pattern? Don't hang on to a few "just in case." Donate the whole set!

9. Donate the "unique" stuff too.

Just because you don't like it anymore or it seems outdated doesn't mean it won't be a new staple for someone else. Thrifters are often on the hunt for some unusual items.

10. Not everyone is going digital, so comb through your DVD or old vinyl record collections.‌‌

Chances are that your college student no longer watches the Disney classics on DVD, and how often do you really listen to all those old records in your garage? Donate your collections and make shelf space for books and entertainment you actually still enjoy.

11. Take this opportunity to tackle the garage clutter.

Old tools, unused exercise equipment, and forgotten record players make excellent donations — just be sure to test them to see that they still work prior to donation.‌‌

12. Don't forget the dorm room décor.

If your college senior just graduated and has a dorm room full of picture frames and lamps that aren’t a fit for the house, donate it.

13. Don't be afraid to start small — just keep it up.

Baby steps help the planet too. By showing your kids the importance of donating instead of tossing stuff away, you can reduce your own clothing footprint and help decrease the demand for new products and the natural resources that go into making them.

Donating to a nonprofit organization or shopping at your local thrift store may have even more far-reaching benefits than you imagined.

Any type of reuse has a positive impact on the planet, and by shopping at stores such as Savers you can help keep millions of items out of landfills every year. Savers purchases the majority of its inventory from a variety of exceptional nonprofits — creating a much-needed revenue stream for these organizations that do critical work.

Not only does your donation keep your goods out of the waste stream, it helps support these partnerships. Between the environmental and social benefits, the upside of donating things you no longer need is endless.

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Ad Council - Save The Food

I'm Heather. I'm a single woman living alone, and just like you, sometimes I buy too much food.

For the longest time, I didn't think much of it. I'd get overeager at the grocery store and come home with more food than I could eat or preserve. When some of it went bad, as food inevitably does, I threw it out.

Then I started learning more about climate change, pollution, and food waste. I discovered that my dirty little secret of throwing away food wasn't mine at all. Lots of us do it, and that's adding up in massive ways.


According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans wasted 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010 — about 30% of the national food supply.

That kind of waste affects many aspects of American life. 40% of all food in America never gets eaten, and the average American family of four loses $1,500 a year on wasted food, with each individual throwing away over 24 pounds of food per month. Food going to landfills could be provided to some of the millions of Americans with food insecurity; instead, along with yard waste, it accounts for 27% of waste products sent to city landfills. As it rots there, it creates methane, a dangerous driver of climate change.

You deserved better, food. Image via iStock.

I felt guilty but inspired. It was time to try and shrink my food footprint.

Over the last few months, I've become a lot more conscious of the amount of food I buy. I'm making weekly meal plans to ensure I'm not buying things I won't need. I've also started composting — and made many new fruit fly friends in the process.

But I knew I could do more. What about the bits of food that come with produce and meat I buy that inevitably end up in the compost or garbage? Shouldn't I be finding a use for them, too? According to this video from Save the Food, a campaign by the Ad Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council to encourage Americans to reduce food waste in the U.S., that answer was definitely yes:

I decided to challenge myself. I'd cook a full meal of recipes based around the scraps of food I usually toss in the compost or the garbage. I'd try to use even the bits of food I wouldn't usually even consider food. I’d document my progress, feast on the fruits of my labor, and bring you, dear reader, along for the trip. Are you ready? Let’s ride.

Indeed it must. Image via Heather Libby/Upworthy.

The soup course: Meat bones are the new black — er, broth.

If I were the good hipster my Tinder profile says I am, I’d be consuming bone broth regularly for its collagen-loving, immune-boosting health benefits. Plus, it’s a great way to get more use out of bones after a meal.

Image via Heather Libby/Upworthy.

These bones were left over from a rib dinner a few weeks ago — I stored them in the freezer in anticipation of this meal. After I thawed them out, they spent the night in a stock pot on low heat. In the morning I added some spices, celery, and onion and let it continue simmering. My apartment smelled amazing, and my cat was very confused.

Unfortunately, I forgot just how much of my broth I needed for my main course, and after it simmered down, I only had a tiny bowl's worth left for this course. Nonetheless, it was lovely, and I felt like a giant drinking it. If you want to try making a broth of your own from scratch, here's a tasty recipe for homemade chicken stock.

Spoon for scale! Image via Heather Libby/Upworthy.

Food saved/reused: half pound of beef bones.

The salad course: Beet greens are also a food!

Before this meal, I’ve never intentionally or willingly eaten a beet green. Not because I didn’t want to but because I didn’t know I could. Turns out, I should have been doing this for a long time because beet greens have lots of vitamins and minerals — and they're pretty tasty too!

GIF via Heather Libby/Upworthy.

Important note: If you’re going to eat beet greens, be sure to cook them first as they are surprisingly bitter in the raw. Some recipes recommend blanching, but I just gave them a quick sauté in olive oil, crushed garlic, and red pepper flakes for a warm green salad. It was absolutely delicious — like a denser, heavier version of cooked spinach. I'm already looking forward to having it again.

Food saved: one-quarter pound of beet greens.

The main course: Shrivel-y tubers still taste fantastic when cooked in a hearty stew.

I’ve only recently learned that my fridge drawers have special functions for keeping food at its utmost freshness. I’ve also started to embrace that not every perishable food needs to immediately go to the fridge. Unfortunately for a few sweet potatoes and a forgotten yam, those realizations came a little too late.

Fear not, squishy veggies: You shall rise again! Image via Heather Libby/Upworthy.

I looked online and found that these tough tubers, despite their depleted moisture content, were still perfectly safe to eat. Chopped up to supplement a big hearty beef stew, you’d hardly guess that they used to be the veggie equivalent of a fashion "don’t." (Another great way to use up vegetable scraps is to turn them into delicious veggie broth.)

This beef stew was a great solution for helping to empty my larder. To my thirsty tubers, I added some neglected celery and some heirloom carrots that had gone a wee bit rubbery with age. Once they were cooked up with some well-browned beef, most of my stock, and some spices, they helped make a delicious winter stew. Even though it took forever to cook (wherefore art thou, slow cooker?), it was rich, savory, and filling.

My inner hobbit was impressed with my culinary expertise. GIF via Heather Libby/Upworthy.

Food saved: 1 pound of slightly shriveled yams, sweet potatoes, and carrots plus some orphan celery stalks and the beef stock from the soup course.

The dessert course: Ambrosia apples a la floor, then a la crumble.

Ambrosia apples are my candy; I would happily trade them for chocolate almost any day. So, when I brought home my bag of perfectly-selected ambrosias — and promptly spilled them all over the floor, I was pretty gutted. My gorgeous apples were very bruised with lots of soft spots. I needed to do something with them right away.

Fortunately, I had some almond flour and gluten-free oats in my pantry. Now, instead of an afternoon snack, my beloved ambrosia apples became the showpiece of a rare special dessert — a naturally-sweet gluten-free apple crumble.

This crumble was, dare I say, ambrosia. Image via Heather Libby/Upworthy.

I’d originally planned on serving my crumble with some non-dairy "ice cream" made from pureed frozen bananas, but the ones in my pantry absolutely refused to go bad on time for this article. That said, if you have some less-than-impressive bananas in your pantry or on your counter, I strongly recommend you try the false ice cream on your own. It’s one ingredient, takes seconds to make, and will make any lactose intolerant person weep tears of non-dairy joy.

Food saved: three-quarters pound of life-changingly delicious ambrosia apples.

While a four-course meal isn't feasible every day, I know that some of the tricks I learned will become a regular part of my cooking routine.

Even though this challenge took quite a while — including prep and cleaning, about three hours — I was having so much fun that it kind of sped by. I watched old episodes of "Scandal" and "Last Week Tonight" while I chopped produce; my cats, Fezzik and Rupert, stayed off the counter for the entire evening; and I got to enjoy a really satisfying home-cooked meal that left me with plenty of freezable leftovers for future meals.

Even better, I helped keep about two and half pounds of food I would have considered scraps out of the landfill and compost.

Would I do this again? Absolutely. Should you do it, too? In the spirit of reuse, I'll say again: Absolutely.

When it comes to art, there aren't any limits to what can be made — or what it can be made of.

Artists rely on their imagination and creativity to take their work to exciting, uncharted places. And the same thing goes for the materials they use.


In fact, many talented artists are exploring unconventional methods using an unorthodox material: trash. Not only are they creating gorgeous works of art, they're showing us that just because something ends up in the trash pile, that doesn't mean we can't get further use out of it.

RAIR, or Recycled Artist in Residency, is a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia that's reimagining how we think about waste.

All images via RAIR, used with permission.

"The work that we encourage artists to do on-site really has to do with the changing of practices," says Lucia Thomé, director of special projects at RAIR. "First of all, you see the site, you see the waste, and then it makes you think about your own practices and how wasteful you are."

Without further ado, here are 11 awesome ways they've reused trash. (Or should I say treasure?).

1. They injected new life into this local park.

It took over three years to finish, but the revitalization of Ralph Brooks Park in Philadelphia brought the local community together in a special way. And RAIR did its part by providing benches and gaming tables to keep the good times going.

2. They helped create this amazing floating installation.

RAIR provided a lot of the materials, and it was artist Mary Mattingly who constructed "WetLand," a floating installation that's part gardening space, part performance space, and part living space.

3. WUT?! A tiny replica of an actual studio?!

Multiple artists collaborated to create this one-sixth scale model of the Traction Company's huge workshop. Of course, most of the mini materials used were sourced from RAIR.

4. They make larger-than-life out-of-this-world Christmas cards.

Every year, RAIR gives back to the site that houses them by constructing these giant decorations and having what I imagine must be an incredibly fun photo shoot.

5. There's this intricate installation of a flatbed truck and its cargo.

Thomé made "Haulin' Sol" as an ode to Sol LeWitt's "Wall Drawing 1152." LeWitt was known for creating wall drawings that were meant to be reused, so what better way to honor that than with recycled materials?

6. They take interior design to another level.

In this exhibition at Fleisher-Ollman, Los-Angeles-based artists Chris Johanson and Johanna Jackson put up "House of Escaping Forms" — a showcase of beautiful room concepts using furniture found at RAIR. Just awesome.

7. They helped create a forum for people to express their awesome ideas.

Using salvaged wood sourced by RAIR, the Monument Lab was an urban research project in the heart of city hall. It was a venue for people to come together and — interestingly enough — talk about what kind of monument would be perfect for the current city of Philadelphia.

8. They provided the materials for an incredible set design.

New York artist Abigail DeVille used materials from RAIR for the set design of "She Talks to Beethoven," her original production at the Jack Theater in Brooklyn. The attention to detail is absolutely on point.

9. They did it again for an opera on an legendary artist.

Another production RAIR was involved in was "Andy: A Popera," an artistic interpretation of the life of celebrated artist Andy Warhol. In fact, RAIR sourced around 700 boxes to build this amazing out-of-the-box set.

10. They had a one-of-a-kind movie night.

To reach out to the local community, RAIR launched Live at the Dump, a series of events that also featured a movie night at Revolution Recovery. Even cooler, they showed "Wall-E" on a screen held up by two excavators. How awesome is that?

11. They staged this completely original musical where the narrative is based on found objects.

Also featured at Live at the Dump, artist Martha McDonald scoured Revolution Recovery for as many interesting objects as possible. She then tied them all together in a one-of-a-kind performance she calls "Songs of Memory and Forgetting."

Whether they're creating their own work or sourcing material for other artists, RAIR is truly challenging traditional notions of sustainability through each incredible work of art.

An organization like this proves that there aren't any limitations when it comes to thinking about reusing. As waste continues to become an increasingly pressing issue around the world, out-of-the-box solutions are more important than ever. And sure, the answer to the world's waste likely isn't with an art installation. But it's the spirit of what these works stand for that bridges the gap between art and the important issues surrounding us.

In the end, a little creative thinking can go a long way in changing our approach to waste and sustainability.