One Man's Journey To Learn To Reuse vs Recycle
Moving away from single issue advocacy.
When it comes to veganism and animal rights, most of us make ourselves heard. We buy and share lots of vegan food, we wear T-Shirts emblazoned with slogans, we protest cruelty to animals, etc etc. But with all of these things, there’s one thing besides our compassion for animals that unfortunately goes along with it: the creation of so much new stuff and resulting waste. But as a passionate reuser and someone who leads a vegan lifestyle, I know that it doesn’t have to be that way. My passion for the planet and for animals began around the same time.
Alex Eave's Journey from touring Activist to reuse guru documentarian
It was the early 2000s and I was managing merchandise and touring around the world with political punk bands and non profit organizations. We designed and sold T-Shirts for almost anything: animal rights, human rights, skateboarding rights, etc. If we had something to say about how to make our world better, we put it on a T-Shirt. But then in 2004, something happened. I was working for a band and we ordered some new T-Shirts; (144 of them printed on green American Apparel T-Shirts to be precise.) When the shirts arrived, they looked great, except there was one problem. The design was on the wrong side. After the artist decided that he didn’t want to sell them that way, I called the printer and told them the situation. He said they understood and they’d have correct ones out to us ASAP. All I had to do was send the others back. But then I got curious. So, I decided to ask what was going to happen to the shirts. I had no idea if the design could be taken off somehow. His answer was blunt: they would be shredded and used as rags.Brand new shirts…never worn…shredded into rags? Nope, that didn’t resonate well with me. I thought about all of the time, resources, and money that went into this. American Apparel shirts ain’t cheap! So, I got an idea and I pitched it. What if I bought the shirts at a discounted price and covered the original designs with patches for my apparel brand, STAY VOCAL?The merch company was cool with it. The band was cool with it. And the planet was definitely cool with it. It saved money, it saved resources, and I got some really cool, unique shirts for my brand. It was this instance that really catapulted me into a world of reusing and eventually converting my brand into strictly reuse apparel in 2008.
Reusing in everyday life and beyond
As a result of that, I became more and more passionate about reusing in general. It entered all aspects of my life; from how I run my business to the clothes I wear to how I shop. Over the years, I realized people were beginning to take notice and reuse was really a major solution to our waste problem; much more so than recycling. After all, it takes a lot of resources to recycle something and make it new again. While running my apparel brand was great, I really wanted to do more. So I started public speaking, hosting workshops, and then in 2013, someone pitched an idea to me: I should make a documentary. After an initial thought of how crazy an idea that was, I realized just how perfect that idea was.
REUSE, because you can't recycle the planet documentary
I traveled around the entire country t onot only share my reuse ideas, but seek out others who were reusing in different ways. I’m a strong believer that the more we work together, the more positive change we can create. This was a perfect way to do it and share that message. For the past two years, I’ve been filming, writing, editing, rewriting, and now, the film is done!On August 16th, I’ll be hosting the big premiere near Boston. But before that, I’m coming to California and celebrating with a private event at Sanctuary Bistro.
This isn’t a doom and gloom documentary about our planet. It’s not about our waste problem. It’s about solutions. And there are reuse solutions for almost anything that we need.
Solutions for the planet, the animals and YOU!
Speaking of solutions, let’s go back to wanting to make ourselves heard for the animals. Going grocery shopping and need to buy something like a big jar of nutritional yeast? Bring your own jar. Need to make posters for a circus protest? Check out local recycling bins for cardboard boxes that can be easily flattened and given another life. Making t-Shirts for an event? Hit up a thrift store and print on those.*By making these reuse choices, you’re not only benefitting animals, but you’re saving money and benefitting your wallet, and most importantly, you’re benefitting the planet. And that’s something we all have to consider. Because seriously, if we don’t have a planet, there won’t be any animals to be compassionate to. There won’t be any humans. There won’t be any YOU.
CRAZY water statistic
*Did you know it takes 400 gallons of water just to grow the cotton for 1 new t- Shirt? Yeah. Nuts! And with the current drought in California, what do we need more: a new t-Shirt or drinking water for a year? For me, I’ll take the drinking water.