P.E.I. artist turns plastic waste into baskets

An Island artist is doing her part to reduce the plastic waste heading to the landfill on P.E.I.

Jane Whitten is a basket weaver and knitter who has been using recycled materials in her art for more than 20 years.

"I was exploring some materials that everyone else wasn't using, so more discarded materials," Whitten said.

"Basket makers usually use materials around them and as a person living in a sort of more industrial world, more urban setting, I started using those materials that I found around me."

Those materials included plastic strapping, electrical cable, even the prongs from the brushes on street cleaners that break off, which she would collect from the gutter.

'Quite intrigued'

Whitten, who was born in Australia, moved to Summerside, P.E.I. six months ago to be closer to her children. 

She has started visiting local hardware stores, looking for materials that are being discarded, such as pallets and strapping.

"They're quite intrigued because they also know this is stuff that they just throw out and they're quite happy for me to pick it up and use it," Whitten said.

She also likes to show them what she's making from the scavenged materials.

"I usually try and carry a basket with me because the guys in the loading area are always quite fascinated to see what I'm doing," Whitten said.

"Then they understand what I'm doing with it because I think they think I'm a bit mad at first."

Her baskets, she said, also have a message.

"There's stuff around us we need to be reusing and we're getting so much garbage, and I think the whole world is finally sort of cluing in that we've got to make some changes," Whitten said.

The baskets are art but Whitten said many of them are also functional, and ideal for Islanders looking to replace their plastic shopping bags.

"Because that strapping is used for going around pallets and around bricks and around timber, so it can take a lot of weight and a lot of wear and tear on them so they'll last for a long, long time," Whitten said.

Whitten says there is a heightened awareness around single-use plastic that has changed how people react to her baskets.

"At first, I think, when they saw my work, it was kind of novel, kind of daring and a bit out of the box," Whitten said.

Now, she said, there's a deeper reaction.

"It's realizing that it's often quite a beautiful piece that I've made out of garbage," Whitten said.

"But then realizing when they look at it more carefully that, it is garbage and we need to be responsible for that."

Recycled products

Whitten's baskets are sold at Eco Spirit, a store that focuses on sustainable products, in the Confederation Court Mall.

Co-owner Angie MacDonald said customers are fascinated when they realize what Whitten has used to make the baskets. 

"A lot of them are very excited about the simple fact that she does make these baskets out of recycled products that aren't really good for the landfills because you can't burn them, you can't break them down," MacDonald said. 

"People are amazed at what can be done with them."

Material for a lifetime

Whitten has also become a regular visitor to The Buzz, P.E.I.'s monthly entertainment newspaper. She uses the plastic straps the papers are held together with for her art.

"I was pretty excited actually because I was always wondering what we could do with those besides throwing them out," said Yanik Richards, sales manager at the paper.

"I always like to see some of the waste get reused before it goes to its final resting place."

Whitten has started doing workshops on how to make the baskets, including one last week at the Eptek Centre in Summerside.

"There's more than enough material for me to use for the lifetime," Whitten said. 

"I find always it's a bit distressing when I only take a portion of what is out there."

Whitten's work has been part of art shows in Canada, the U.S., New Zealand and Australia and has won numerous awards.

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