Local co-op hosts first upcycle market

Earth's Refillery Co-op and Cafe hosted a weekend market where vendors sold re-worked items made from clothing to jewelry made from spoons.

Earth’s Refillery Co-op and Cafe hosted its first Upcycled Market Sunday.

“Upcycling is important because we already have all of the clothes, accessories and everything else on the planet that we need for the next, like, billion years,” said Rebecca Swityk with the co-op. “In order to reduce the waste that’s going into the landfills (we need to) reorient people to the idea of reusing and repurposing.”

The market saw several vendors selling re-worked items from clothing to jewelry made from spoons.

“Honestly, the minds of the vendors just work differently than the minds of other people. They see something that you would think has no potential to become anything else, and they are already thinking of 10 things to do with it,” said Swityk.

“It’s a really great way to show people that one man’s trash really is another man’s treasure.”

Swityk says they hope to do another Upcycled Market in the coming months.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti