One person’s trash …
Children around the world turn trash into toys — from cornhusk dolls to scrapwire matchbook bikes. On Aug. 20, that’s exactly what the young participants in “Trash Tales” will be doing at the Peabody Museum. For a few weeks, said museum education specialist Andrew Majewski, staff members have “rallied together” to compile a supply of cleaned trash to be fashioned into toys, bringing in items from home. People “have a shared desire to create, and kids in all cultures will use whatever they can find,” he said. “This commonality is one of the messages we hope the children will come away with.” The project is a timely one, given recent sustainability efforts at Harvard, and connects the museum and participants with cultures in which finding a second (or third) use for trash is a time-honored tradition. For example, people in many countries make sandals out of tires, just like the pair on...