Recycle Trophies Baltimore Trophy Recycling Pennsylvania York
UPDATE 2/23/15: I AM NO LONGER ACCEPTING TROPHIES. I HAVE AN EXCESS OF THEM NOW.
Look to the bottom of this post for suggestions on where to recycle them.
Why you should recycle them:
I have worked with several organizations and worked with youth groups where we make them upcycled trophies for their awards. Not to mention it keeps the kids off the street and doing something artsy! Using your OLD trophy parts helps us be able to give more awards out at our ceremony. Due to the budget most times only the first few places get awards, but by having recycled trophies with a little time, and elbow grease we are able to refurbish them. Secondly, people appreciate the one of a kind uniqueness. Some places obtain all standard the same style trophies. Not us, we like to be unique.
DID YOU KNOW:
LAST YEAR IT TOOK US PARTS FROM 110 DONATED TROPHIES TO MAKE 40 USABLE TROPHIES just for one car show? And not to mention, three months of work!
I HAVE NOW DONATED OVER 400 TROPHIES MADE FROM OVER 1000 DONATED TROPHIES!
I have donated my time to reburbish trophies FOR FREE to:
- Big Fat Daddy's Pitmaster School
- Hogging Up BBQ Festival KCBS Competition 2014
- Hogging Up BBQ Festival Backyard Competition 2014
- Hogging Up BBQ Festival MVP Awards
- Evel Speed Car Show 2014
- Hogging Up BBQ Festival KCBS Competition 2013
Here's what they look like before: (I break them all down into usable parts)
The trophies are then broken down into parts, so that we may build new ones. To be honest we must be nuts because this in itself takes a lot of time. But it's a great way to keep the kids busy and us on our toes. People do like getting unique trophies not all the same like they normally give at awards ceremonies.
Now you can see how pretty they look after we rebuild them uniquely, no two alike and buy plaques and toppers for them. Note, this costs me money out of my pocket. THE FESTIVALS DO NOT REIMBURSE ME FOR THESE PARTS.
NOTE: To cover my cost buying new toppers and plaques for them some parts I can't use may be sold to other crafters who can use them. Some vintage trophies may be refurbished which takes a lot of my time and sold as statues or gifts. Some have been used in movies for props. This one was refurbished because I loved it, it took me four hours to clean all the parts.
Why aren't other people doing this? Because it takes a lot of volunteer time to refurbish these trophies even just breaking them down and organizing them takes us several weekends. People find it much easier to order a made in China trophy rather than using something old. In fact, it's probably cheaper to buy new considering the labor but we enjoy taking something old and making it new again. For instance, your son's soccer base may be rebuilt with a girl in another state's eagles from her trophy and someone from 1960's decorations are used, making one trophy having been built from 3 or 4 old ones.
HOW TO DONATE THE TROPHIES:
Updated: 2.23.15 As I no longer accept them, you will want to :
- Call local trophy shops in the area to see if they will use parts from your old trophies. Some stores will take them and disassemble them.
- Offer them free on Craigslist for crafters who can use them.
Otherwise, when you donate these trophies to thrift stores, they try to sell them but I know plenty of thrift shops who throw them out, because people just have no need for them. Old trophies end up in the landfill and it's a shame.
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