Philippine Designer Makes Women’s Clothes Out of Waste

Leonora Buenviaje has been making women's clothes out of waste materials, usually dresses. She says wearing clothes made from waste materials can be both economical¹ and look good.

Buenviaje is 51-years-old and from Cainta in the Philippines, about 15 kilometers east of the capital Manilla.

To make her dresses, she uses a foot-operated sewing machine to join together the waste materials. These include recycled newspapers, plastic wrapping³ and rice sacks⁴.

Recycling is when something new is made from something that has been used before.

The process Buenviaje uses to join the materials together is called sewing. Sewing combines two pieces of cloth or is used to repair cloth. She creates new and beautiful clothes women can wear. They are sometimes completed with a piece called a headdress that goes on top of the head.

"The bubble⁵ wraps⁶ from delivery⁷ packages are nice looking and make for a good design, especially the black and white wraps," she said. Bubble wrap² is a plastic product that is used to protect goods that are being delivered. She said white bubble wraps were good for making wedding dresses.

The dresses sell for between $30 to $50. They are used for everything from coming-of-age parties for a woman's 18th birthday, called debuts⁸, to weddings.

In Asia, there is plenty of waste material for Buenviaje to work with: about 80 percent of the world ocean plastic is estimated⁹ to come from Asian rivers. A 2021 report by Oxford¹⁰ University's online publication¹¹, Our World in Data, found that the Philippines is responsible¹² for one third of Asia's ocean plastic pollution.

"It's important to recycle or utilize¹³ used materials so we can help our earth," said Lalaine Alcalde, who buys clothes from Buenviaje.

Buenviaje said the recycled materials used for each dress depend on what her buyers are looking for.

She said her dresses are used in beauty competitions and are popular with young girls.

"I get delighted whenever they win, the designs are simple but they still win," she said.

Buenviaje hopes in-person clothing shows called fashion shows and competitions that were stopped during the pandemic will begin again soon.

She also aims to organize fashion shows herself to show and help others find ideas to create clothing out of recycled materials.

Words in This Story

dress – n. a piece of clothing for a woman or a girl that has a top part that covers the upper body and a skirt that hangs down to cover the legs

delivery – n. the act of taking something to a person or place

package – n. a box or large envelope that is sent or delivered usually through the mail or by another delivery service

delighted – adj. made very happy: full of great pleasure or satisfaction

utilize – v. to use (something) for a particular purpose

1 economical   

adj.节约的，节俭的；经济学的；经济上的

参考例句：

• The state has paced the whole nation in the economical reform.这个州在经济改革中走在了全国的前列。
• Coke is an economical fuel but it leaves a lot of ash.焦炭是一种很经济的燃料,可是燃烧后剩下很多灰。

2 wrap   

n.外套，围巾，包裹，限制，约束，秘密；vt.包装，卷，缠绕，包，裹，覆盖，遮蔽，隐藏

参考例句：

• You'd better wrap it with a piece of clean cloth.你最好用一块干净的布把它包起来。
• You can wrap the skirt around your waist.你可以把裙子围在腰间。

3 wrapping   

n.包装材料；包装纸v.包，裹住(wrap的现在分词)adj.包装用的

参考例句：

• He spent the evening wrapping up the Christmas presents. 他花了一个晚上的时间把圣诞礼物都包了起来。
• She tore the cellophane wrapping off the box. 她把包装盒子的玻璃纸撕了下来。

4 sacks   

洗劫( sack的名词复数 )； 大袋； 麻袋； 床

参考例句：

• Help me to load the sacks onto the cart. 帮我把货装到这辆车上。
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。

5 bubble   

n.泡，水泡，气泡；泡影，妄想；v.(使)起泡

参考例句：

• The water begins to bubble.水开始起泡了。
• Their hopes of success have burst like a bubble.他们成功的希望已经成了泡影。

6 wraps   

n.[通常为复数]外衣( wrap的名词复数 )；（拍摄电影时）完成拍摄；[电影、电视]拍摄（或录音）完成；毯子v.包( wrap的第三人称单数 )；覆盖；用…包裹（或包扎、覆盖等）；卷起

参考例句：

• Tom wraps a book in a newspaper. 汤姆把书包在报纸里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The car is being returned by truck, under wraps. 汽车正在秘密地用卡车运回。 来自辞典例句

7 delivery   

n.交付；投递；分娩；解救者；演讲的风格

参考例句：

• The strike caused a great delay in the delivery of the mail.这次罢工严重地延误了邮件的投递。
• He was employed at the local grocery store as a delivery boy.他受雇于当地杂货店当送货员。

8 debuts   

演员首次演出( debut的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never really debuts the idea of taking money from his parents any longer. 他从此就再也没有认真起过向父母要钱的念头。
• This young soprano debuts next month at the metropolitan opera. 这位年轻的女高音歌唱家下个月将在纽约大都会歌剧院举行首演。

9 estimated   

adj．根据估计的

参考例句：

• She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
• The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。

10 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

11 publication   

n.出版，发行；出版；公布，发表

参考例句：

• They don't think this article is suitable for publication.他们认为这篇文章不宜发表。
• The government has delayed publication of the trade figures.政府已将贸易统计数字延后公布。

12 responsible   

adj.有责任的，应负责的；可靠的，可信赖的；责任重大的；vi.休息，睡；静止，停止

参考例句：

• He must be responsible to me for this matter.这件事他必须对我负责。
• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。

13 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。