MASSPIRG In The News

There's a saying that one person's trash is another person's treasure.

In the case of a group of students from MASSPIRG, the Massachusetts Public Interest Research group, one person's trash is another person's evening wear.

"I've always liked fashion, and this seemed like a great way to get our point across," says UMass Dartmouth student Melyssa Centeno.

"We wanted to grab people's attention with something different."

As a member of MASSPIRG — an independent statewide student organization that works to raise awareness around issues like environmental protection, consumer protection and hunger and homelessness — Centeno, along with a number of other UMD students, recently hosted a "Trashion" show.

The goal of their Nov. 5 event, in which student models took to the catwalk to show off 45 outfits made entirely of recycled materials such as trash bags, soda cans and recycled paper, was to raise awareness about ways the state could improve recycling facilities to break the cycle of burying and burning trash.

"The creativity that came out in the designs was amazing," says Delicia Williams, also a UMD student and MASSPIRG member.

Some of the designs were extremely intricate, including a black cocktail dress adorned with a Tootsie Roll wrapper corset. All were designed and made by the students.

"It was a combination of having an eye for it and being able to work with some really limited materials," says Williams.

"It was a way for us to get our message out there. People had a lot of fun."

The message Williams is referring to is advocacy for an updated Bottle Bill, the most successful recycling program in the history of the Commonwealth, MASSPIRG reports. Over 30 billion containers have been recycled since it became law in 1983, according to the organization.

"While it's been a huge help, things have changed a lot since then," says Leah Ofsevit, MASSPIRG organizer for the Dartmouth campus. "There are new containers, new materials out there."

Currently, Massachusetts buries, burns or exports 53 percent of its waste.  According to MASSPIRG, if the Bottle Bill was updated to include more containers such as water, iced tea and sports drink bottles, in one year we would recycle enough containers to fill Fenway Park up to the Monster seats.

"It's definitely time to update it so it's more in line with what we have today," Centeno says.

The Trashion show was such a success, organizers are already talking about next year's show.

"A lot of people got the message and want to help," Centeno says. "Next year is going to be even bigger and better."