Friday, May 15, 2009

Save Those Produce Stickers!

Don't you just hate throwing the stickers from produce into the garbage? The thought of more trash going to the landfill makes Mom crazy, which in turn makes me crazy. Then I found a guy that Mom could send the stickers to so that she can sleep peacefully at night.

Barry "Wildman" Synder uses the stickers to make mosaic artwork at his Erie, Colorado home. What a brillant idea! This guys deserves an award. Some people are just so creative.

According to his website, Barry started the S.O.S. - Save Our Stickers - Foundation to provide a new home and meaningful purpose for produce stickers. But where does he get all the stickers from? Does he just sit around eating produce all day long? Of course not. He gets them from people just like you and pugs like me. More importantly, he depends on us to keep his artwork alive.

So how can you help? Just peel the stickers from your produce and place them sticky side down on a piece of notepaper (paper only, no plastic). Once you have enough saved up to make it worthwhile to send, mail them to:

Barry “Wildman” Snyder
Stickerman Produce Art
POB 301
Erie CO 80516


Your stickers will be turned into a beautiful piece of artwork like this. Mom really likes this piece. Too bad Mother's Day just past (darn!) and her birthday is next year (shucks) or I would get it for her. Maybe this would make a good anniversary gift (next month).

Most of Barry's pieces cost between $25 - $265. This is a great way to upcycle something that would otherwise end up in a landfill. For additional information on Barry and his artwork, check out his website at http://stickermanproduceart.wordpress.com/.

In case you were wondering about those little numbers on the stickers, the most important digit is the first one.
  • Numbers beginning with a 3 or 4 denote conventionally grown, non-GMO produce. This means the produce has been grown with chemical pesticides and fertilizers, but is not genetically modified.
  • Numbers beginning with an 8 denotes genetically modified (GMO) produce.
  • Numbers beginning with a 9 denotes organic produce.

4 comments:

Apollo said...

Thanks for the info. What cool art. My Mommy gets produce from the Farmers Market, so no stickers. But if we ever do, we'll try to remember to save them. My Mommy tried to save candy wrappers once (for art), but the ants got the best of that.

Stubby said...

Apollo - Your mommy is so smart to get her produce from the farmers market! We get ours there when we can, but the rest of the time, it comes from the store.

Sometimes the farmer markets around here have stickers on their produce, so keep your eyes open.

Stubby xoxo

Salinger The Pug said...

Wow, Stubby! Thanks for sharing this! Mom read somewhere once that the labels were made of some kind of edible paper, so she just eats them, or chops them up after she washes whatever it is....but we're going to start this new "saving" project because it will make my daddy's eyes roll! HAHAHAHA! Thanks Buddy!

Stubby said...

Hey Salinger - Your mom is just as weird as my mom! I didn't know that you could eat the stickers, but then again, I eat everything.
My dad's are gonna roll as well because he just doesn't get it.

Stubby xoxo