This week, a landmark UN report spelt out the dire situation our planet is in. Urgent, drastic changes are needed to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees, and failure to do so will worsen the risks of floods, extreme heat and drought for millions of people worldwide. Here in Malta, we tend to freak out in not-such-extreme weather, so the question on everyone’s lips this week is: what can WE do to prevent the apocalypse? 

For one, don’t throw so much stuff away. Making the most of what you purchase will not only mean you get to save a penny or two, but it would also reduce the frenetic consumerism of our society, decreasing the amount of product made and energy expended. Result? A cleaner, healthier planet for starters!

Gaia Foundation have long prioritised upcycling – reusing what you have by transforming the item into something new and better - stressing that it is essential to “get more people upcycling and thinking about the waste they produce. We use too many single use items and have stopped repairing things since it is so cheap to buy new.  Upcycling teaches you that you can make beautiful things out of discarded trash.” 

And that is indeed the case. Transform old wine bottle corks into place holders; mason jars into candle holders; perfume or alcohol bottles into soap dispensers and create baskets out of old denim to dip your toe into the art and craft of upcycling. Anyone can learn how to do it, according to the Gaia Foundation. “If you are not a confident crafty person, you can attend a workshop to hone your skills”, they say.

Groups like STH from NTH (which stands for ‘something out of nothing’) run monthly workshops at the foundation’s Elysium centre in Ghajn Tuffieha and also organise activities in different areas of the island. An upcoming session on making your own pallet planter will take place at Tigullio in St Julian’s this Sunday - for those who would like to experience the craft for themselves. “It does seem like upcycling is trending at the moment. Hopefully, people will see the value in reusing and it will last,” the Gaia Foundation continue.

Here are some ways you too can transform your trash into new treasure:

1. Use painted shutters as a bed headboard 

2. Transform coffee cans into plant pots

3. Reinvent tin cans into candle holders

4. Redecorate your tissue boxes and use them as pencil holders

5. Hang your old books up as works of art

6. Use a painted crate as a bedside table