Matt Dukart, 34, has learned the value of garbage. Potato chip bags, remnants of shelf paper, old magazines — he’s used them all. Dukart rescues materials bound for the landfill and turns them into fashion handbags. Dukart upcycles.

Upcycling refers to the process of turning waste products into something usable. This is not a new concept necessarily — remember your grandparents never throwing anything away? It’s definitely a new word for the old idea. Upcycling decreases the need to create new products out of raw materials and decreases the amount of usable materials headed into the waste stream.

Most of the materials used in Dukart’s bags would otherwise be barged 160 miles up the Columbia River to a landfill near Boardman, Ore., along with the rest of Clark County’s solid waste. According to the 2008 Clark County Solid Waste report, each county resident generates more than 6 pounds of garbage a day.

In 2008, the county shipped more than 254,000 tons of waste upriver. That’s more than 508 million pounds.

Dukart was in the mortgage business until the market collapsed. Afterwards, he found himself with another job and a lot of free time. He never considered himself to be artistic: “I was a jock more than anything else.”

Once the captain of his high school baseball and soccer teams, Dukart said, “This is the first time my creative side has tried to come out.”

Around a year and a half ago, his family was looking for something to do while they watched TV together. Dukart had seen what was being sold at Saturday Market and knew he could do something as good. Based on the weaving children do with gum wrappers and after much research, he came up with the idea of crafting bags using a similar concept.

His first attempt was made with old ESPN magazines (in keeping with his athletic side). He quickly learned they weren’t durable enough.

One evening, as he emptied his bag of chips, he had an epiphany. He began secretly washing and saving his chip bags which were waterproof, colorful, pretty and free. When he collected enough, he made his first bag and knew he had the answer. There was one problem, though: “We couldn’t eat enough potato chips and frozen food to keep me busy,” he said.
He started looking for more materials.

He went to Waste Connections who gave him a roll of discontinued chip wrapping from Frito-Lay. It was perfect for the project and something that would have been thrown away if not for Dukart.

“It’s a great way to upcycle materials that normally wouldn’t/can’t be recycled,” said Terra Heilman, a waste reduction specialist at Waste Connections, who met Dukart about a year ago when he was on his quest for supplies.

The handbags, ranging anywhere from around $10 to $100 are sturdy, well-made and 100 percent crafted in the U.S. If you weren’t told, you’d never know they were made from recycled materials.

Dukart now works as a salesperson at a document finishing company and works part-time with Blazers retail at the Rose Garden: “I think of it (making purses) as a hobby,” he said.

Upcycling has become a family affair. His wife, Stephanie, creates unique jewelry using a mixture of new and found objects. People have been amazed at the bead and wire work she does.

Have a favorite gift card you can’t seem to throw away? Their daughter Kat, 15, makes guitar picks from used plastic gift cards, debit or credit cards. These are inexpensive and one-of-a-kind.

The youngest daughter, Bri, 13, has picked up the torch and is making hair accessories. All of them will customize a product at your request.

The family picks up some of their supplies at SCRAP, some from Craigslist, and some their friends find or collect for them. One of the purses was made out of Seattle’s Best Coffee packages collected at Dukart’s workplace. Although some of the materials they have to purchase, they prefer to see what they can get for free.

“Buying (supplies) brings it to a whole different level,” Dukart said, not really in the spirit of the whole concept of upcycling.
You can find the Dukart family’s products on the Internet at www.rockcandyart.com

Ruth Zschomler is a sustainable living writer for The Voice.