Posts tagged "t-shirts"

Reusing, recycling and upcycling links – and a video

It’s been a while since I’ve featured some of the wonderful reusing, recycling and upcycling links I’ve spotted recently. So, without further ado…:

  • Drinks can pop top lampshade I love this lampshade made with drinks can pop tops – it’s like modern chainmail :)
  • Drinks can bottoms necklace The other end of the cans – a great reuse since so many crafts using the pop tops or the sides of the cans, but I’ve not seen many using the stiffer curved bottoms.
  • Fake shell-like pendants from bubble wrap Following on in the “you’d never guess what this necklace used to be” line, this tutorial shows you how to make shell-like decorations for jewellery from bubble wrap.
  • Old jeans into placemats I think I’ve seen something like this before but it’s still a great idea – denim placement from old jeans, using the pockets as cutlery/napkin holders – cute!

(Bench photo by Kindall)

How can I reduce the waste I receive at conferences etc?

My starting off point for this post was the question “How can I avoid getting free stuff at conferences etc?” but the easy answer to that is obviously “just say ‘no, thanks'”.

There is a bigger related discussion though: how can we stop companies from giving away likely-to-instantly-break junk at conferences and exhibitions etc in the name of promotion? And how can we reduce the one-off waste created by conferences in general?

This question is partly inspired by yesterday’s post about recycling promotional rucksacks but also because it’s the start of conference season (in the tech world at least) so there will be a lot of promotional junk flying around soon. To be fair, some of the stuff we’ve collected at events in the past has been well made — I’ve had some promotional pens last for years and my favourite shopping bag is from a tech conference in 2008 (and when it finally falls apart, I’ll use it as a pattern to make a new one) — but a lot of it is poor quality and random stuff that just about no one needs. Still, despite it being crap, there seems to be almost an expectation about the provision of swag at conferences – I know people who feel a bit cheated if they don’t come away with at least one free t-shirt, even though many are poor quality and they admit used only for decorating or laundry day provision.

Has anyone attended any conferences or events where the organisers/companies have cut back on junk, given away quality items or been more creative with their offerings?

Or has anyone had any luck convincing organisers/companies to cut back or make the switch to better stuff? And what can be done to change the expectation attitude of attendees?

And what else can be done to reduce the one-off waste produced by conferences and the like? Any clever ways to avoid providing new nametags (especially ones needing lanyards) at every event or reducing the amount of paperwork (schedules, maps, other blurb) given to attendees?

(Photo by TheSeafarer)