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One of the more interesting conversations we’ve had lately was with an advisor who had considerable experience with makerspaces in the state.  It was a cautionary tale, actually, about how makerspaces pretty much universally become dumping spots for well-meaning donors getting rid of equipment and materials of almost every description.  The challenge is to weed out the usable stuff from the trash, avoid hazardous waste disposal expenses, and keep from insulting the donors, who often are trying to help you.

Our reaction was simply, why not turn this into a revenue and materials stream?

Upcycling amounts to taking various pieces, parts and products and repurposing them.  Create clothing from scrap cloth.  Use computer parts to make new electronics.  Turn trash into crafts projects.  Along with our focus on renewable and sustainable energy, The Brickyard Collaborative’s mission includes recycling materials like plastics, metals, wood, paper, fabrics and other castoffs into raw materials for projects and creations.  We are committed to turning scrap metals into workable stock, and repairing and reconditioning equipment – from machine tools to household appliances – to keep stuff out of the landfills and dumpsters.

To see what we’re doing about it, take a look at our lineup of upcycling workshops:

• Repair Clinic:  Appliances/Electronics
• Repair Clinic: Bicycles
• Upcycling: Plastics
• Upcycling: Salvage Electronics
• Upcycling: Driftwood and Animal Sculptures 
• Building Community: Woodworking and Upcycling

Come to our Meet and Greet at Land of a Thousand Hills on March 10 to learn more!

Got you interested?  Here’s our page: THE BRICKYARD COLLABORATIVE: UPCYCLING CENTRAL, which we’ll keep updated with information and resources as we get them.  Here’re some reading materials from various places on the web:

How to Salvage Useful Components from Old Electronics – Electronic Products

These DIY Machines Let Anyone Recycle Plastic Into New Products

Upcycling and the Low-Tech Makerspace _ Edutopia

…and some cautions: Be Careful How You Upcycle

Yep, it’s happening!  We’re almost tight on a workshop schedule, and we’re putting together a meet and greet and signup.  Meet the instructors, learn more about the workshops, and sign up for the ones you’re interested in.

 Check back in as we update the listings!  Here are the deets for now:

In the spirit of “Save a Tree”, as well as, well, the cost of printing up nearly 100 copies of these (pretty interesting) documents, we opted for posting the PDFs of various resources and handouts here.

First up, the slightly abridged version of our overview/proposal.  You can see the vision here, as well as some of the down-and-dirty numbers.  Here’s that: Brickyard-Collaborative-Proposal_handout

Here’s the Brickyard Mission Statement, and the FAQs – some handy quick answers to common questions: Brickyard Mission Statement  /  Brickyard FAQ

Our proposed equipment list, which will show you what we’re planning to have available to members: Equipment List

There’s a great piece on how a MakerSpace aligns with education, especially Common Core standards, here: OPP_ResearchBrief7_SurveyofMakerspacesPart2_final

Sarah Beese of the Haley Pilot School put together this piece, describing their boat project: Haley Boat Building Overview

There are a couple of detailed articles talking about how MakerSpaces create opportunity.  From the Harvard Business Review, Is Collaboration the New Innovation: Appx2-CollaborationInnovationHBR  From The National League of Cities, How Cities Can Grow The Maker Movement: Appx1-CitiesGrowMakerMovementNRC

Made in Place is a piece about “small scale manufacturing” contributing to urban revitalization: made-in-place-small-scale-manufacturing-neighorhood-revitalization

The Working Cities Challenge website has probably the most compelling statement regarding “resurgent cities”, and is the quote we use to close the presentation.  The link to the site is below.

“Small cities in Massachusetts and across New England possess unique assets and face a unique set of challenges. …Notwithstanding these challenges, research on small cities conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has found that eight cities out of a peer group of 26 nationwide have been able to either maintain or recover much of their economic stability, as measured by income, reduced poverty rates, population, and economic vitality.

Several factors drove the rebound of these “resurgent” cities: collaborative leadership, the role of anchor institutions, investment in infrastructure, and extension of benefits to the community as a whole.

Of these, collaborative leadership – the ability to work together across sectors over a sustained period with a comprehensive vision – was most crucial.

The findings are strikingly similar to those of the Living Cities Integration Initiative, deployed in five larger cities with substantial inner-city populations. Both sets of findings elevate the importance of collaborative leadership in creating systems-level changes that will enable small cities to reach their full potential as places to live, work, and raise a family.” (From Working Cities Challenge website.)

Also the Email Subscription link.

 

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We’ll add more as we find them, so check back.