Upcycling Event is a roaring success as it brings sustainability options to Longford

Longford's Temperance Hall saw a great turnout last Wednesday for the Repair and Reuse Workshop, organised by Comhairle na nÓg and Longford County Council.

The hall was a hize of activity with sustainable businesses and organisations in attendance.

There were sewing experts, bike repairs, soaps and skin care, African clothing and REVAMP.

Gary Brady, the climate officer of Longford County Council organised the event alongside Comhairle na nÓg.

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“Well, I suppose how it came about was the Comhairle na nÓg approached the Council and asked had we any sustainability ideas, circular economy ideas?

“And we’ve had a Reuse and Repair Network for the last ten years but we’ve never had an event for it for one reason or another. “So we got together with Comhairle na nÓg and we organised the event here today.

“The Comhairle wanted to be involved because they wanted to give back something, like a sustainable event for up-cycling.”

Members of Longford County Council could be seen dotted about the room chatting it up with the local artisans who had come to highlight the option of sustainable goods and services.

Some were there as a part of the event like Councillor Uruemu Adejinmi.

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“So I’m involved with the Longford Africans Network and we did a collection among the members of the network to donate pre-loved African clothing that’s in good condition and we’ve made it available to support this event.

“It’s free for people to take and we have a tailor here who can do alterations as well for people who want them in their size.

“It’s just to enc courage people to have that mentality of reusing, re-purposing and changing hands with fabric instead of sending things to landfills,” explained Cllr Adejinmi, “We know clothing is the second biggest climate waste in the environment and we need to work against contributing to this waste.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to really send the message to let people know that you might be tired of a nice piece of clothing in your wardrobe but it might be someones new piece of clothing.”

The African Network’s collection of clothes quickly got snapped up. In fact, there wasn’t a single moment when there wasn’t a group of attendees gathered around the racks of colourful fabrics.

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Beside the clothing stand was REVAMP, a furniture up-cycling and restoration project based in Longford.

They had brought with them multiple restored pieces, beautiful re-upholstered chairs and a bike made of wood.
Enda McManus is heavily involved with the project and was one of the representatives present on the day.

“It was established 23 years ago now, so we’re going to be showing off some of the wares today. We do reused paint, we spray paint furniture as well. We can use the reuse paint to spray paint furniture.

“We do woodwork, you see some nice pieces here that the lads have made in the workshop.

“We also do upholstery as well, so I suppose upholstery is very popular now, people aren’t throwing out the pieces of furniture that maybe they used a couple of years ago.

“Everybody wants to up-cycle and recycle now.”

Enda concluded, “It’s good to have the skills yourself, you’re never going to be caught in an emergency situation where you can fix something yourself. It’s going to save you money and it’s obviously saving the environment as well.”