Since many years one world foundation has been laying a focus on environmental protection awareness, supported as a cross-cutting theme at various levels: waste separation, collection of waste from beaches, special exam and essay topics as well as other initiatives at our school. I am very happy about the wonderful fashion project “Out of Garbage” from Bettina Reichl and Irma Denk at our Women’s Cooperation. The project goes far beyond creating awareness by showing techniques to upcycle the garbage materials and to make creative use of them. one world foundation is much inspired by the concept of the Social Sculpture by the artist Joseph Beuys. The question of how we shape the world in which we live is one of the most relevant questions of our times. “Out of Garbage” shows one way of how we can make use of our creativity for positive change, and the project is also a strong contribution to the programmes of one world foundation which aim at female empowerment.

Kathrin Messner, founder and director of one world foundation

Sri Lanka has a magical attraction to me. I love its beautiful landscapes, spiritual people and manifold cultures. The intense power of nature learns you respect and leads easily to the recognition of unity with all beings. Many oceanic animals are harmed by thrown away plastics: Fish, turtles, sea birds and whales are entangled in bags or mistake small plastic items as food, but also animals on land, who eat straw ball nettings or plastics from garbage heaps. My work for “Out of Garbage / Waste to dress” is dedicated to my beloved cat, who died through a hormonal disease caused by substances coming out of plastics. We have to create a safer world for our animals. It is in our responsibility to protect the beauty of our Planet Earth and the wellbeing of all creatures!

Bettina Reichl, fashion and packaging designer and curator of “Out of Garbage / Waste to dress”

“Out of Garbage” addresses an absolutely serious topic and is at the same time a call for action. I like how creative and playful the approach of this project is. I worked as director of the Viennese Children’s Museum ZOOM for many years and in this job, I learned that things you do playfully and with joy go much deeper into your consciousness than things that are only explained to you by words. When we collect waste at the beach or near our own house, we start to think about why it is there, who throws these things away and how we can avoid this in the future. When we collect waste in order to produce dresses, we look much more carefully at the objects we find and analyse their material, qualities and possibilities. From these qualities and possibilities we can create beautiful, crazy, attractive, impossible costumes and dresses using only our phantasy and skills. I think phantasy is a strong power. We need this strong power to create a more sustainable world for us and our children. They have the right to live in a clean and healthy environment! Let us start now!

Elisabeth Menasse, project coordinator one world foundation