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It’s hard to think of a better example of educational multi-tasking than an annual initiative undertaken by students in WVU’s Fashion Design and Merchandising program. For the past three years, students in the program learned about sustainability while serving the community and protecting the environment. The A-WEAR-ness Campaign for the Homeless© is the brainchild of Tracy Gainer Vash. We asked her to talk about the ideas behind the effort, the outcomes and the future of textile recycling in the WVU community.

The Vash Recycling Model (VRM) proposes a platform for recycling education and community outreach and supports waste reduction, easing environmental strain. The intent of the VRM is to merge separate elements into a collaborative format and advance the recycling concept. The VRM perspective is an encompassing approach that involves educational and ecological transformation. The recycling model presents community, engagement, awareness, sustainability, and reinvestment as an amalgamated process. Assimilation of the components broadens the initiative and incorporates all elements as a collective.

The VRM bridges community and the educational sector in a collective approach to address alternatives to post consumer apparel waste. In short, in 2006, I wrote a Rehabilitative Environmental Action Plan (REAP) grant for the homeless shelter to establish an on-going textiles recycling center at their facility. In 2007 and 2008, as a result of a two year long recycling project, approximately 1,400,000 pounds of textiles were diverted from the waste stream and recycled at the homeless shelter. This figure does not encompass the clothing that was salvageable and used to help indigent individuals and families.

There was close to $200,000 generated from the recycling efforts for the homeless shelter. This provides the necessary funds to assist the shelter in helping those in need. It decreases reliance on outside funding/donations and creates organizational stability by establishing an internal, self-supporting funding base.

Student Participation:
The A-WEAR-ness Campaign for the Homeless© is just a portion of a broader research focus founded in The Vash Recycling Model. The students’ sole purpose is to collect donations for the homeless shelter. The collection figures are as follows: in 2006, over 800 bags of donated goods (approximately 16,840 pounds) were secured; in 2007, over 1,400 bags, translating into over 28,100 pounds; and in 2008, over 1,700 bags, totaling to around 34,080 pounds of textiles.

As part of my research efforts, I ask the students to complete a posttest at the end of project participation. There is an overwhelming evidence that involvement in the A-WEAR-ness Campaign for the Homeless heightens students’ understanding of environmental sustainability and increases social awareness.

Each year, I am amazed at the students’ commitment, enthusiasm, and devotion to the project and the community’s generous spirit. Without these collective efforts, little could be accomplished.

It is my hope to make textiles recycling a permanent, on-going program at WVU. Started in 2005, the research continues to yield positive results and provides ample evidence that a permanent textile-recycling program at WVU would be successful.