Victoria Resident Diverts Over 2,500 lbs of Art Supplies From the Landfill
One Victoria resident is getting creative in turning trash into treasure through a community-based pop-up shop.Ashley Howe is the founder of a local non-profit called SUPPLY Victoria, which aims to reclaim potential waste and turn it into supplies for artists.
“Our aim is to inspire people to see waste in a new light through the creative process of art,” Howe said. “Victoria seemed perfect; it has a strong sense of sustainability, a lot of social services, and the second-highest rate of artists in Canada.”
Howe launched SUPPLY in 2018, after seeing similar operations work in Portland and other parts of Canada. Since then, the organization has been accepting donations of cast-off materials from local people, offices and businesses and offering them for free to whoever needs them.The pop-up shop offers a good selection of new and lightly used art supplies including: new canvases, scissors, paints, packages of paper, writing and drawing supplies, packs of paint, sewing materials, art kits, yarn, and many second-hand traditional art supplies. Other repurposed items include vinyl stickers, upholstery scraps, bottle caps, wine corks, old electric cords and more.Every year, the average person in the Capital Regional District will send 375 kg (827 lbs) of waste into the local Hartland Landfill. According to a 2016 Waste Composition Report, nearly half of this amount (167 kg) was composed of potentially re-usable items like wood, paper and plastic.
“300 million tonnes of plastic are created every year,” Howe said. “I’m about reduce and reuse, because we won’t be able to tackle what needs to be recycled.”
The pop-up shop, located on Vancouver St. between Green St. and Caledonia Ave., is open from 2 p.m.- 6 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays, and is often filled with community members.The enthusiasm for donations was so high that Howe recently opened a second location at 750 Fairfield Rd. as a donation centre, with hours from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and 10 a.m. - 12 a.m. on Saturdays.
Howe is also in the process of launching a Creative Reuse Centre — an education space and storefront this summer at 750 Fairfield Rd.
"Our aim is to accelerate the option of zero-waste by diverting materials from the landfill and supplying those materials and knowledge to integrate sustainable thinking into the creative process —all while keeping it fun, available and affordable.”
Since its inception, SUPPLY has helped divert over 1225 kg (2,700 lbs) of waste from the Hartland landfill.For more information—including a full list of items accepted for donation, visit supplyvictoria.ca, or check it out on Instagram @supplyvictoria.
Author:
Nicole Crescenzi is a Greater Victoria resident who holds a career in journalism and professional communications. More importantly she’s a fan of the ocean, forests and mountains that shape the West Coast.