Belfast City Council Waste Fair 2007

This week saw waste on public view at the Belfast City Council Waste Fair 2007. The prominent centerpiece of the event taken up with a 10ft spherical statue of waste electric appliances which have been created into a living piece of art. A monitor placed in the centre of the sphere relays how the statue came about, having been created from waste disposed at one recycling centre in the city.

Around the centre piece was an array of tents each containing displays or interactive demonstrations. The first tent I stumbled on contained motion sensitive video walls and floors which allowed visitors to eliminate the waste from taking over Belfast. Whilst being an interactive and fun element, this offered a more serious underlying message that there is a need in the city to decrease the amount of waste being sent to landfill, and this message continued throughout the exhibition.

As I had skipped on breakfast to catch the train to the event at 10:40, the hunger I was feeling was not helped by the McGees award winning organic beef barbecue, which offered sensual aromas of tasty beef burgers and sausages from County Tyrone. I resisted the temptation as I was on a very tight schedule and made a direct route to the next exhibition tent.

There I stumbled upon a locally produced product, from local recycled materials by The Waste Recycle Company, their award winning product is based on a simple idea of waste segregation. Brian Fairbairn, explained that since production of the product began 18 months ago, the business has mushroomed beyond comprehension. With commercial orders from Dubai to Africa, but closer to home in the United Kingdom they are supplying government, schools, businesses and direct to consumers. One client is the Northern Ireland government offices at Stormont, who have seen recycling rates increase four-fold since implementation of the system. We will be profiling this company in more detail the coming weeks.

After a trawl through the charity shop displays, I came across products cunningly displayed amongst mock rooms (including a bathroom costing £150). Available to buy in shops and online. This list was compiled by the Belfast City Council official who created the display. The products on show ranged from a travel journal made from used Australian car plates (£24.95), to Recycled Juice Carton Clipboards (£7.99 up). Over the next few weeks I will be adding all the products in an article, as there are some really useful and potentially eco-friendly gift ideas amongst them.

Following on from my attempts to create my compost heap, I came across a solution by The Worm Works. Easy to use, with no smell, no mess, and no chances of any worms escaping, potentially you could have this in your kitchen, so no trips to the bottom of the garden. With the compact composter assembled before me in seconds all you have to do is add your biodegradable household waste (kindly provided by the food stalls at the exhibition) and some worms. The composter is in layers so larger families can simply add more trays, and the base also collects fluid which can be tapped off as a liquid fertiliser. The product is manufactured from recycled plastic in the USA, where it is also the best selling system of its kind.

Thursday night saw the Second Chance Fashion Show, hosted at Café Vaudeville, local faces strutting their stuff included Donna Traynor, Jo Scott and Sarah Travers (BBC), Jeannie Johnston, Siobhan McGarry and Pamela Ballentine (UTV), Stephen Clements from Cool FM and Emma-Louise Johnston (GMTV). Compering for the evening was Julian Simmons.

“You`d be really surprised at what people give away and we made some real finds when we were putting together outfits for the fashion show. What`s even better is that you can save yourself a fortune but still look fashionable and glamorous – and you`ll have everyone wondering where you got that little vintage top from.”

Tracey Hall, Style Academy

With so many participants at the events it was hard to just single out a few, so here is a list of some more of the attendees;

Blooming Bottoms - Reusable nappies and environmentally friendly baby products
Pink Unicorns - Handcrafted knitting using recycled yarn
Suzie Scott Recycled Boutique - Recycled Boutique selling clocks, wall hangings, cheeseboards and small dishes made from recycled glass bottles
Timber Recycling Eco Enterprises (TREE) - Wood turned items including bowls, goblets, candlesticks and holders. Wood carved items such as Celtic goblets, plaques and fireplace corbels.
Camphill Community - Breads, cakes, buns and pottery.
LifeStyle Green - Furniture made from Wych-elm wood.
Raspberry Berry - Vintage clothing stall.
Cancer Research - Second-hand clothing.
HOBO Designs - Handbags, accessories, T-shirts made from recycled fabrics.Camphill Community - Breads, cakes, buns and pottery.
LifeStyle Green - Furniture made from Wych-elm wood.
Raspberry Berry - Vintage clothing stall.
Cancer Research - Second-hand clothing.
HOBO Designs - Handbags, accessories, T-shirts made from recycled fabrics.
Save the Children - Second-hand books and bags.