Cool Trash

COOL TRASH - UPCYCLED LIFEWARES

05/11/2026

I got to make merch for .mpls in sick 70s color schemes! Thanks for having me do this 🧡🤎💛

05/09/2026

Catch Cool Trash at for Art-A-Whirl weekend! I’m deep in prep mode trying to make as many cooltrashs for you as I can.

04/29/2026

I do fewer art market event type things every year cuz it takes a lot out of me but I always do May Day with and Whirlygig with !

See you there!

04/15/2026

To celebrate Earth Day this year I had the pleasure of making these cute lil guys for at ! A certified offical product 🌎

Katie made the design, then we had this stamp made by the one and only 🌀

Each keychain is made of 3-4 plastic bottle caps reclaimed from the waste stream and kept out of landfills, oceans, and waterways 🌊

04/12/2026

I’m hosting an Earth Day event at 🌎

On Wednesday, April 22nd from 4-7PM come by Indeed Brewing Co. in northeast Minneapolis — have a beer and sort can carriers with me!

This is a fun, easy drop-in style volunteer event. Kids are welcome! If the weather is nice we’ll be outside!

This event also coincides with Indeed’s “Indeed We Can” weekly fundraising event through which 100% of taproom sales go to a local nonprofit — on this Wednesday it’s 🐾

Come through, have a beer, sort some paktechs! Maybe we’ll even have a little competition to see which kid can build the tallest paktech tower 😮

04/05/2026

Recycled Plastic Embroidery Floss Bobbins now available for wholesale on Faire! Link in bio.

I figured out how to make these more efficiently! Details coming soon on Patreon, still gotta get a good video of the process.

03/28/2026

New! Tulips 🌷 for spring. Apparently inspired by the 1974 Marimekko by Dan River Seven Flowers print. Some other odds and ends too.

Available now on cooltrash.net or wholesale on cooltrash.faire.com ✳️

03/25/2026

Hello instagram world. Just some updates for you.

I have written about this on Patreon and if you know us irl you know that my business partner Alex (check out and ) and I got a grant from Hennepin County last year to expand Cool Trash! Yay! Except that the first part of it we spent was $10,370 for a custom built oven which was never built or delivered 🙃 and now the guy is continuously threatening defamation and libel lawsuits when we ask for any kind of accountability. We just want what we paid for or our money back. Doesn’t look like we’re gonna get either.

Amidst this and all the other layers of consistent chaos, I (Emma) was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Aka I feel like s**t pretty much all the time and everything is exhausting.

We were planning to use that big oven as a part of the manufacturing process to make 4x8’ recycled plastic panels. Now that we’re out $10k and a very necessary part of the manufacturing process, we have decided to regroup and focus on what’s already working. We’re going to keep making cute, useful stuff out of recycled plastic and continue to grow slowly and steadily.

All of this is just to be forthcoming with you and remind you that those of us in the plastic microrecycling industry are hustling day to day, trying to make it work, trying to do something meaningful and often hitting obstacles that can feel very defeating. But it’s still worth it!!! We appreciate all of you and your support and encouragement along the way ✳️

01/08/2026

Gettin’ the hang of it!!!

12/28/2025

Big news for 2026!

Since I started selling buttons a few months ago they’ve been in higher demand than I expected. Y’all need more buttons than I am physically able to make by hand, painstakingly hand-trimming each little button with a utility knife 🥴 bad idea from the start, probably, but everything I do is an experiment until it’s a success…

The demand for buttons prompted me to invest in an injection molding machine!!! And to get my first custom mold made! Both from .studio 😮

Of course, I’ll be able to get more molds made in the future and make all kinds of great stuff, but I am so excited to start this injection molding journey by making SO MANY BUTTONS.

Of course I’ll be offering these buttons for sale on my website, but for those of you who are obsessed with buttons, I created two new Patreon subscription tiers — one through which you’ll get 1 special button each month, and another through which you’ll get all 13 buttons from this injection molding shot delivered every month!

JSYK, I also added a top Patreon tier which includes all of this + 1 hour per month of one-on-one consulting and/or tutorials of your choice. This is a great way to get some questions answered at a time when things are really ramping up for Cool Trash and I don’t have the time or capacity to help everyone who wants advice from me or help getting started with DIY plastic recycling. My time and expertise is worth money! I have built this entire thing on research, experimentation, and aaaaaalll the resources available from 🩷

The link to join my Patreon is in my ig bio!

12/15/2025

Managed to pop off a few more confetti pouches!

ALSO all ornaments are on sale!

🌐 c o o l t r a s h . n e t 🌐

FYI — email list subscribers found out about this first 😈

Also my last market of the year is Slacker Sk8er Market on 12/20 10AM-3PM at organized by !!!

Address

711 15th Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN
55413

Website

http://cooltrash.net/

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