One Person's Trash Becomes Another's Art

It's a smallish house a block off a main drag in Ellensburg, Washington, home of Central Washington University. Dick and Jane's Spot was begun about 30 years ago by artists Jane Orleman and Dick Elliott (who died in 2008). They have created a yardful of sculpture and decoration out of junk - old bottles, cans, bottle caps, hub caps, bicycle wheels and especially reflectors. Thousands of reflectors form colorful patterns on fences surrounding the property. Scrap metal is shaped into animals or people or unique figures. Whimsical and cheery, the home seems a fun way to display and reuse old stuff that might otherwise be left in a landfill.

Recycled Home in Portland

An architect in Oregon takes eight years to realize a passive home built of mostly scrap and waste products, where his designs were not preconceived but rather inspired through available materials. His Portland bungalow yielded studs that were originally cut around 1925, and once de-nailed, ripped, and planed, they revealed beautiful material, he says. The home won the "Greenest Home in America" in 2008.
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