A men’s shed from Donegal has won a major award at the National Upcycle Challenge.
The Upcycle Challenge was set by mywaste.ie and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of Reuse Month.
All Eight Winners were presented with their prizes to a special ceremony in Collins Barracks, Dublin today.
And the Killybegs Men’s Shed, won the Men’s Shed Category at this year’s National Upcycle Challenge.
The group of men took up the challenge and made a beautiful bench using an old bed frame.
The “Upcycle Challenge” was set by mywaste.ie and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of this October’s Reuse Month, and the eight winners were presented with their prizes at a special ceremony in Collins Barracks, Dublin on Friday last.
The Upcycle Challenge invited participants to use their imaginations to create something new and useful out of old unwanted and discarded items or material.
More than 230 entries were received from individuals, community organisations, Men’s Sheds, and schools across the country.
A total of seven category winners were decided by a judging panel, who also chose the three finalists for the People’s Choice Award.
From November 12, the public voted for the three finalists on mywaste.ie’s social media platform and a People’s Choice Award Winner chosen.
All eight recipients travelled to Dublin to receive their prizes, including the Killybegs Men’s Shed who all travelled together in a special Local Links Bus.
The Eight Upcycle Challenge 2019 winners were:
People’s Choice Award 2019
Hannah McMahon, Carrickmccross, Co. Monaghan – created Hannah’s Handmade Sanitary Towels using leftover scraps of cloth from previous upcycling projects.
Men’s Shed Category
Killybegs Men’s Shed, Co. Donegal – the group of men made a bench using an old bed frame.
Community Category
Local Volunteers, Derrynane, Co Kerry – with the help of a local welder, a group of volunteers who walk Derrynane Long Beach on a regular basis built a fish shape recycling collection point made almost entirely from recycled materials. “Goby” the fish is now the drop off point for any plastic, rope or net that walkers discover while walking on the beach. The plastics are regularly removed for recycling by a local waste management company, while BIM take the net and rope for recycling.
There are now three “Goby” fish on Kerry’s beaches, helping with the removal of plastics and netting from the beaches and shore.
EPA Winner
Eimear Greaney, Galway City – put her pattern making skills to great use to create templates to make ponchos for children from broken umbrellas . She also used old High Vis jackets to add trimming.
EPA – Special School Award
Drumshanbo Vocational School, Co Leitrim – visited the Rediscovery Centre & were so impressed that they decided to put what they learned into practice. They took donated furniture and applied decoupage to it to restore the furniture. The industrious and creative students also passed their skills on to other students in the school.
Connacht – Ulster Waste Region
Lawrencetown Community Development Group, Co. Galway – restored an old phone box to create a home for a defibrillator and sourced the paint from the reuse scheme at Galway County Council.
Eastern Midlands Waste Region
Darren Heaney, Dublin City – rescued an old noticeboard from a skip in St Patricks College Drumcondra and upcycled it into a coffee table by adding hairpin legs and painting it.
Southern Waste Region
Dave Yeadon, Waterford – made a gorgeous garden chair from an old wooden barrel just using teak oil & some screws.
Congratulating the winners Sinéad Ní Mhainnín Waste Prevention Officer with the Connacht Ulster Regional Waste Management Office said judging in the Upcycle Challenge was particularly difficult this year due to the high standard of entries.
“The challenge set during Reuse Month was clear – we wanted people to add value to an item or items that would ordinarily be discarded. And the Irish people certainly rose to the challenge.
“Old, no longer suitable for use or unwanted items were transformed and or repurposed into new products as diverse as – a home for a defibrillator to reusable sanitary towels. Not only did these projects produce very creative and useful items, they also prevented waste and saved resources in the process.”
“The Upcycle Challenge was a collaboration between the EPA and the regional waste management offices as we challenged ourselves to get the nation thinking about reuse.”
National Reuse Month was developed by Ireland’s three Waste Management Offices (Connacht/Ulster, Eastern/Midlands, and Southern) in conjunction with Ireland’s 31 local authorities, and is supported by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.
Reuse Month takes place throughout October and supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 12 which calls for Responsible Consumption and Production.
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