Erin McKean Quotes

I was brought up to reuse things.

Like my father, I would never as a child throw anything away, keeping old toys, electric motors and bits of broken machines under my bed in what I called my Box of Useful Things.

Even clingfilm - if it's gone over a salad bowl, take it off, use it again. I wash out carrier bags; I save brown paper from parcels. I save string; I save ribbons. I separate all my bits and pieces.

If you keep a thing seven years, you are sure to find a use for it.

The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.

If a leaf fell from a tree, I'd stop juggling and play with the leaf. I went to my prop bag and got a little bandage and stuck the leaf back on the tree. People loved it.

I like crafts that come out of poverty or necessity. There used to be hobby shops where you'd get your supplies, and then you'd use your imagination.

When we unwrap presents, I tend to sit there with a bin liner trying to collect up the wrapping paper and thinking about which pieces I can reuse and which I will recycle.

Nothing is wasted.

In Maine, there is a deeply ingrained sense that you can always get a little more use out of something.

I think winter wear is communal. You get some gloves and a scarf from a lost-and-found box, wash them, wear them for a while until you lose them. Then somebody else does the same thing.

The purpose - where I start - is the idea of use. It is not recycling, it's reuse.

My mother was my biggest role model. She taught me to hate waste. We never wasted anything.

One man's trash is another man's treasure, and the by-product from one food can be perfect for making another.

One kid's old, used-up equipment is another kid's brand-new, awesome, awesome equipment.

I used to love to create outfits, and I still do - I just don't have the time. How can you wear one thing and never wear it again? Even my wedding dress - I had a dress made that I could wear again. I'm a child of the depression, so I'm very, very practical.

One man’s trash is another man’s dissertation.

An artist looks at a juice bottle, an egg carton, or a newspaper and sees something valuable in them.

To catch the plastic, act like the plastic.

There is no such thing as waste. It is just a question of whether we know how to use something or not.

I can never waste water. If I cannot drink it I will use it to water the plants and I will never waste food. If it is inedible it goes on the compost heap.

We have to be responsible towards the environment when we celebrate our festivals.

I was always taking garbage from around the house and making my own toys. I wasn't given a Wii or an Xbox or anything.

There's a recycling mentality about my work.

There is a use for almost everything.