Reduce, reuse, recycle… defined? MSU students use campus trash for casual fashion design

Mesh fabric. Plastic pipes and mesh. Gardeners. CDs and mirrors. Once the items were donated to the MSU Surplus Storage and Recycling Center, these materials are now being used by MSU Arts and Humanities students to make costumes for the Homecoming Parade on October 14th.

The class, called Reclamation Studio, is led by artist and College of Arts and Humanities professor Steven Byback in collaboration with MSU’s Surplus Store and Recycling Center. Any materials in the store or free recycled materials, all sourced from the MSU campus, are available for students to use in their designs.

“In some ways, this is like… MSU’s wake-up call,” Byback said. They are all things that no one wants and are left behind. Like detritus.

As part of MSU’s infrastructure plan, the Surplus Storage and Recycling Center is responsible for managing all of MSU’s waste as a resource, said Katie Deska, Surplus Store Education Coordinator.

“We accept recyclables, recyclables, campus food waste and also trash,” Deska said. “We handle the material on the recycled, recycled, compost and landfill side.”

In the classroom, in a project called Spartan Upcycle, three groups of students are working together to redefine conventional clothing with recycled materials. Byback has directed versions of the class for four semesters, but this is the first time students will display their designs in the homecoming parade. The purpose of the class is to teach students about smarts and how to be healthy consumers, Byback said.

“It’s about getting to know the materials and building a relationship with their physical aspects,” Baybach said. Their strength, softness, flexibility. It is all about exploring analog reality in the material world. … is to see the potential of the material. I can’t think of anything more valuable.

Emma Newman, a third-year arts and humanities major at MSU, said her and her teammates’ costumes were inspired by a dog-shaped plant they found in the free room at a thrift store.

“We didn’t want him to be a dog, we wanted him to be something else,” Newman said. “We wanted him to look like a magician … and he turned into this space magician alien creature.”

Bybach says working with found objects engages all the senses.

“It speaks to ingenuity, it speaks to creativity, it speaks to the way we learn and create and invent new things,” Byback said.

A team at the thrift store, Spartan Upcycle, recycles donated and collected items that are out of condition to sell in the store.

“We are helping to encourage people to change their perception of what waste is and to look at materials in a different way,” Deska said.

The thrift store, located off Farm Lane and Greenway, is open to the public on Fridays, where you can buy handmade furniture, upcycled items and more. It also hosts free monthly educational events and craft workshops on campus.

“The best thing about this class is for the students to both come and participate, but hopefully, they’ll get some stories to share with their friends. . . . It’s a big thing to get that awareness because we’re in the South. Side of campus, off the beaten path,” he said. Desk.

Spartan Upcycle is hosting a campus-wide event on October 1st from noon to 4:00 pm. Students can swap clothes and books, visit recycling and vermicompost facilities, and create art. A full calendar of events is available on the MSU Surplus Storage and Recycling Center website.