The REMIDA Centre for Creative Recycling provides the Municipal Infant Toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio Emilia with an abundance of materials, otherwise known as "clean waste" from the industrial sector, to be manipulated, recreated and celebrated.

REMIDA was born in 1996 as a joint project between Reggio Emilia Municipality and the utility company, AGAC (now know as ENIA, the first Italian environmentally-friendly utility company). The idea was to cultivate a relationship between culture, schools, enterprises and local authority with "the purpose of creating new resources".

There were a lot of smiles in the auditorium when we were told that the RE of REMIDA represents "made in Reggio Emilia" and MIDA represents the greek mythological character Midas. Midas, in case you have forgotten, is popularly remembered for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold.

At REMIDA, "off-cuts from production in the local industry are collected, exhibited and offered free of charge to schools, local authorities and other bodies involved in education and care in the Reggio Emilia province". To date, 200 companies donate clean waste to the centre, providing the social sector with "unlimited resources further developing creativity and environmental awareness". The Centers volunteers from the Friends of Reggio Children International Association, assist the staff in displaying, in a impressively neat and organized manner, a large assortment of waste materials for whomever wishes to re-invent them.

In May each year, re-inventions are the focus of a celebration known as "REMIDA Day", which "promotes cultural events around the theme of creative recycling". Before visiting the Centre we were shown slides of the REMIDA Day Market. Here we saw members of the community, from all walks of life, in a large brightly decorated parking lot, sharing their re-inventions and experimenting with others.

Near the end of conference Day 2, a large group of us eagerly boarded a bus and REMIDA was our first stop. I was so surprised by the size of the space and the amount of materials on display, that I can't recollect exactly what was inside, for this I apologize. I do remember touching rolls of fabric and strings of ribbon, leafing through piles of paper and dipping my hand into a barrel of plastics. I walked around with my eyes wide open, marveling at the available resources and the organization in which they were laid out.

Friendly volunteers were on hand to answer questions and a shop was set up with recycled goods. I bought a transparency with this quote "Re-using means to use again: first you use it, and then again until it is done and there is no more..." from 3 yr. old Mariachiara, printed on it. The idea is to staple the ends together and place it over a tea-light -- very clever.

Next to the shop was the REMIDA Library,"Saved By Remida", which is stocked with used books for members of the community to sign out. Here, books are donated from libraries and personal collections and is it once again, volunteers who organize and maintain this feature of the REMIDA Center.

I hope to have access to a REMIDA Center one day as it is a fine representation of a teachers dream "art cupboard" and a communities ability to creatively reduce, reuse and recycle.

The photo above was taken on the grounds of the Centro Internationale Loris Malaguzzi, which no longer houses the REMIDA Centre. It was dark when we arrived, so I couldn't take a more up to date photo of the current facility.