Beauty of Reusing

Reusing is to use an item more than once. This includes conventional reuse where the item is used again for the same function, and new-life reuse where it is used for a new function. In contrast, recycling is the breaking down of the used item into raw materials which are used to make new items. By taking useful products and exchanging them, without reprocessing, reuse help us save time, money, energy and resources. In broader economic terms, reuse offers quality products to people and organizations with limited means, while generating jobs and business activity that contribute to the economy.... read more at Wikipedia

Image credits: Protect the Earth by earthdayshirtsgifts

This unique eco friendly clutch bag is made in Mexico from foil candy wrappers. You can still small the slight fragrance of the candy that first occupied the packaging. With this bag you can be both trendy and socially responsible. These bags are produced and purchased under Fair Trade conditions. They are very sturdy with a zipper closure. This purse is 8.5 inches by 7 inches deep. Strap is made from candy wrappers as well and is 24 inches long. Unlined.

MYO Accessories is a company aware of poverty, especially among indigenous groups in Mexico where the company is located. MYO was established to help empower craftspeople live better lives by employing mostly women to make their products, such as the candy wrapper purses.

In addition to offering these women employment, MYO give them the opportunity to take the materials to their homes so they can better care for their families while they work, helping to improve the quality of their lives.

Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. An alternative conception of creativeness is that it is simply the act of making something new.

From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality and appropriateness. Read more at Wikipedia.

Image credits: creativity by klcris

Eugene Jacques lives in Croix des Bouquets, an area of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti known for artisans who make oil drum art. The constant hammering from the sheds in the area led us to beautiful metalwork, with each stop offering new designs.

Eugene's shed was tucked behind several others and yielded unique three-dimensional masks with cogs and bicycle chains for earrings. Each piece is a work of art and signed with "Eugene".The Diaspora of Haitians has spread the designs and skills of Oil Drum art throughout the Caribbean but the art is truly Haitian. Old oil drums are no longer readily available and are imported into Haiti by container and sold to the artisans. Even though cheaper, more readily available steel sheets could be used, artisans rely on the used drums for the patina in their art.

This metal gecko is handmade in Haiti from old oil drums. Each is painted with a colorful design and has a hook on the back for hanging. The piece is approx. 13 inches in length.

Founded in 1990 by a multinational group of young entrepreneurs, Caribbean Craft-formerly known as Drexco-promotes employment in Haiti by training unskilled - but often highly gifted - craftspeople, and by assisting the independent artisans through the introduction of new designs and new market outlets. Unemployment in Haiti, the poorest country of the American hemisphere, is variously estimated at between 60 and 80%.

The organization has gone through rough times during the past years, marked by political troubles and economic difficulties including a 3-year long embargo on all Haitian exports. Drexco saw in 1997 its premises totally ransacked and then destroyed during gang violence. Relocated in a higher-security industrial park, the organization currently employs 400 artisans either as salaried employees or outside contractors, with roughly equal numbers of men and women.

Some of the favorite recycled jewelry items are the "dancing boy and gir"" pins and earrings, made of recycled wire and scraps of used prepaid phone cards by craftspeople in Kisumu, Kenya.

The sign for the Teenage Mothers Association of Kenya (TEMAK) indicates that it is "the last house towards the Obunga slums," the most destitute area of Kisumu. Many of the unwed mothers and young girls who come to TEMAK to learn job skills live in these slums.

TEMAK is an organization that offers job training in tailoring, hairdressing, secretarial skills, craft making, and recently computers to unwed mothers, girls, and others in the Obunga slum community. As a community center, the organization also provides the community with an educational forum for HIV/AIDS awareness and other health issues. Many of the young women at TEMAK participate in making crafts, earning income to support themselves and their families. In the past few years, TEMAK has also become a craft center for the artisans and craftspeople in the town of Kisumu by providing local and international sales outlets that make available a sustainable income for many in the community.