The Mullica Hill Library will teach those ages 13 to 18 how to refurbish old and useless pieces of furniture with its Upcycling for Teens class Friday from 3 to 4 p.m.
The items refurbished in the class become newer and more modern pieces that serve various purposes at the library, according to teen librarian Crysta Miller.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 12.1 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were generated from furniture and furnishings in 2018, with about 20% combusted for energy recovery. The rest was landfilled.
The upcoming library class will have the teens refurbishing a wooden chest by cleaning, sanding and painting it in order to produce a more modern piece. All supplies for the class will be provided by the library.
“The piece they’ll be working on is a painted wooden chest that is cosmetically in bad shape, but still sturdy,” Miller explained. “The idea is to clean it up, sand it down and paint it to freshen it up. The chest will then be used in the (library’s) Teen Place for miscellaneous items and for decoration.”
That placement is meant to give the teens a sense of accomplishment, according to Miller.
“Since it will be going in the teen room, it would be wonderful to see their own work represented in the space designed for them,” she noted of the class participants.
Upcycling for Teens is free and does not require a library card, but participants must register online with the GCLS website calendar.
