We live in a transactional world.
From the daily debit swipe for goods and services to the daily exchange of emotions and conversation, we are always trading back and forth between each other.
Although it’s easy to sign your receipt and move on your way, GainesvilleScene wants to dig a little deeper. Behind the Scene, our new series, gives you a glimpse into the world of the amazing locals who make Gainesville the exceptional town it is.
Buy used, save the planet.
Mike Myers is the founder of Gainesville’s Repurpose Project, a creative resource center which turns would-be landfill articles into useful items. He’s been recycling for over 40 years, works with UF students on all things sustainability and has a passion for saving our world.
What inspired you to open this operation?
I’m a baby boomer and my generation created many of the things we rectify today, like plastic for example. We made all kinds of nice stuff out of plastic but never told any of the next generation what to do with it when you’re done. So you throw it in a landfill it stays there forever, or you throw it in the ocean and it becomes a big gyre of floating plastic and animals eat it and it’s not good for them… it’s not good for the planet.
What’s something you’d like to say about all the things you have here?
Everything here is just ready for someone to do something with it. They’re just waiting here for someone to find ’em and give ’em a second chance. There’s a lot of people who float through and say “I just wanna do something” and they have good fun doing it.
How do you see this operation effect people?
I have a theory. And the theory has to do with art and education. What I feel is when we start preschool or when we start kindergarten, that all the way throughout the next 12 years we spend that time academically. A lot of that time we lose that creative edge that we all have, then later when we do a project that has a creative artistic viewpoint to it, it’s so amazing that we can unlock that part of us again.
Do you know someone that we should feature for this series? Email us at scene@collegevox.com with the subject line “Behind the Scene”
