Recycled Arts Festival flush with ways to make waste into wonders

You don’t have to be an artist to get into the artful-recycling act at the Recycled Arts Festival in downtown Vancouver this weekend. Just go to the bathroom.

The newest thing about this year’s 11th annual celebration of making waste into wonders is the composting toilets. Conventional port-a-potties use chemical cleansers and deodorants to keep things from getting too fragrant — which they tend to do, anyway. Afterwards, all that good stuff is disposed of via the public wastewater system.

But at this year’s event, and presumably well into the future, people achieving sweet relief will also enjoy tossing some sweet sawdust down the hole afterward. That’s all there is to it.

As Longview contractor Nature Commode wonders on its website: “Why use chemicals when a handful of sawdust will do to control odors, moisture and visibility of the previous occupant’s contribution?” In the end, Nature Commode recycles all the solids and liquids into agricultural uses in southern Washington state.

“That’s a big deal in terms of our environmental friendliness,” said spokesman Andrew Loescher of Clark County Environmental Services, which created the festival. “We’re getting away from traditional toilets, and we’re pretty excited about it. We had two last year. This year the whole event is composting toilets.”

Well, not the whole event. But we understand the enthusiasm.

‘Upcycling’

Making trash into treasures isn’t just good business these days — it’s vital for a crowded planet that’s drowning in waste. That’s why Clark County started inviting artists to show off their ingenuity in creative re-use, or “upcycling,” more than a decade ago.

“We thought this would be a really fun way of bringing people together around waste reduction and the environment,” said key organizer Sally Fisher. “It’s hard to get people to come to a garbage workshop.”

But it’s easy to get people to appreciate arts and crafts with a conscience. As many as 30,000 have turned out for recent Recycled Arts Festivals, and the 2015 outing won two top awards from the Washington Festival and Events Association — for having the most positive community impact of any festival or event in the state, and for having the greatest popular appeal.

What’s so appealing? The Recycled Arts Festival is two full days and 145 ingenious artists who recycle used stuff into every imaginable creation: furniture and home decorations, yard art and bird feeders, kitchen tools and utensils, jewelry and clothing, clocks, toys — and probably some innovations too new for names.

It’s not just clever crafts. Central to the Recycled Arts Festival is fine art and a sculpture garden where visitors can vote on for their favorite creations. Last year, there were 1,600 votes, and the three winners were: first place, Tom Jackson’s “Steely Dan,” a fisherman (and fish) made of metal; second place, Terry Powers’ “Pup tractor,” a farming vehicle driven (and inhabited) by doggies; and, third place, Tom Schell’s “Big Oily,” the metal head of a fossil-fuel god of some sort.

Kids can get into the artistic act, too — and not just by scattering sawdust down there. Local business Art ala Carte will be on hand with its mobile salad bar — literally — of art supplies; it’ll also showcase the winners of its 2016 recycled art contest in categories like “Greenest,” “Most Creative” and, of course, “Silliest.”

Local music will be on stage and food will be for sale both days of the festival. Take a tour of a tiny house; then take a free tour of downtown Vancouver on Couve Cycle, the pedal-it-yourself party on wheels.

Bring your own reusable mug or water bottle to be entered in a special drawing.