Fancy a bit of Shwopping?

Brick Lane in East London became temporary home to almost ten thousand items of discarded clothing.  It seems that this is the amount of clothing that the good citizen of the UK throw out every five minutes (well, 9,513 to be exact but what’s a few hundred between friends?). This extraordinary display came about to raise awareness of something that high street retailers Marks and Spencer will become a household word – shwopping.

Image Credit Flickr User World of Good

The idea is simple really. Instead of throwing away unwanted or used clothes M&S want us to take them to their stores where we can deposit them in a ‘shwop’ drop box.  As they have over three hundred stores in the UK this represents a large scale attempt to recycle clothing, so much of which simply ends up in landfill at the moment.

Image Credit Flickr User Terekhova

So, will shwopping (or buy one give one back) catch on? Only time will tell but you have to admit – it’s not a bad idea at all - not that I would particularly appreciate my shop front covered in old clothes for more than a few hours, however good the cause!

First picture - credit Flickr User World of Good

Trashy Novel

Sometimes there is so much going on around us that it is difficult to know where to begin so we can make a difference. This video by Good.is offers a solution of sorts. It is done using an extended visual metaphor - a young man buries himself away in a novel only to be bombarded by the trash produced by others. He carries on reading his novel but only after doing something small - and useful - with what he finds around him.

The message is pretty clear - we can all do something to help the environment only if it is in a small way. By taking a little time out we can help clear up the mess made by ourselves and others in ways that will both reduce the trash pile and make something new out of it. Recycling is an old message, but this short movie does it in a new and original way. Bravo.