Funded by the Science Foundation Ireland Discover Programme, the project invited the people of Cork to share stories of reuse, recycling, and thrift, drawing inspiration from the circular practices that have shaped everyday life for generations.
“My husband did scrap since we got married, back in 1977 and ever since that and before that, since he was 11 or 12, he did scrap all the time. Scrap. Cleaned it, everything, copper wire, lead. Everything that settled people threw away, my husband would pick it up.”
For the Traveller community, these stories are not just lessons of sustainability, but a vital thread in the fabric of their identity. Travelling, for many of these individuals, has never been about merely moving from one place to another. It’s about adaptability, resilience, and a deep respect for the things that hold value—whether those things are the clothes you mend, the tools you repair, or the memories you carry with you along the road.
Audio: listen to more here
Kathleen Keenan – Brigit O’Reilly – Nora Cash – Mag McCarthy
The Circular Tales project invited members of the Travelling community, whose voices have often been underrepresented in both folklore and sustainability conversations—to share their experiences with creative reuse. They spoke of darning socks to extend their lives, of re-heeling boots to make a good pair last, and of the imaginative ways they transformed seemingly “waste” or scrap into something useful once again, and of course, tinsmithing. It’s a way of life that Travellers know well: the necessity of making do, of salvaging and renewing, of looking at the discarded and seeing its potential for something more.
Through the Circular Tales project, these stories were collected and preserved, but they were also reimagined. The goal was not just to remember the past but to inspire the future—to show that these traditions of reuse, repair, and renewal have as much relevance today as they did in times gone by. The future of the planet, after all, depends on the ability to turn waste into a resource, to think in circles instead of straight lines, and to reimagine what it means to “use” something.
“My father-in-law kept horses, and he also did scrap. Traveller men in general, that’s their kind of areas for, I suppose, economically that’s what they were used to doing. There were certain skills around that that were passed on from father to son, you know, around recycling scrap and caring for horses. Working with their hands, you know. Travellers tend to generally live and work in the same space.”
Cork Folklore Project’s interactive Thrift Map
One of the outputs of the project was the Cork Folklore Project’s new interactive Thrift Map, where users can listen to stories pertaining to all things thrift, recycling and reuse from all over Cork.
Click here to access the Cork Folklore Projects Thrift Map
https://corkfolklore.org/cmm/neatline/fullscreen/circulartales-thrift-map
The project began with community listening events, where the team presented memories from the CFP archives and invited people to reflect on the days when reuse, recycling, and thrift were not just ideals but everyday realities. These events were marked by engaged audiences, many of whom were eager to revisit a time when Cork’s communities stretched their resources and lived more sustainably.
CTWN’s Mags O’Sullivan and folklorist James Furey collected stories from ten Travellers. Their interviews showcase how the Travellers’ ways of life were centred around ingenuity and practical reuse, where even the smallest of items—scrap metal, old buckets, horse hair—could be transformed into something valuable. The emphasis on mending, recycling, and reusing materials speaks to the broader values of thrift and environmental awareness that were often a necessity for communities living a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle. In such a context, waste was not an option, and everything had to be repurposed or reused to maintain livelihoods.
This tradition of making the most of what’s available also ties into the concept of “circular economies,” where materials stay in use for as long as possible, reducing the need for new resources and minimising waste. It’s fascinating how these practices, which may seem unusual to many today, are deeply aligned with modern sustainability movements.
The project culminated in a grand celebration at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork City, where the themes of reuse and thrift were brought to life through song, story, and conversation. The event featured a performance by renowned Traveller singer Thomas McCarthy, whose songs connected the past with the present, and his stories had the audience engrossed. It also included a presentation by Mags O’Sullivan of CTWN, who highlighted the Traveller community’s innovative and sustainable approaches to recycling and reuse—practices that have been part of their culture for generations.
Mags O’Sullivan’s speech from the Circular Tales: A Celebration of Sustainability in Song and Story event
My name is Mags O’Sullivan – I am a community development worker with CTWN
I am a proud Traveller woman.
I was reared in the Black Ash area of Cork City. I grew up on the old halting site which was located beside Cork City dump up until 1989.
Recycling, fixing things and seeing opportunities from things that other people threw away was a way of life for us… read more »
Some items were in perfect condition and were either traded, gifted or sold on.
Other things especially metals were brought back to our site to be cleaned, before being sent on to the metal traders in the city.
The sounds that I heard every day as a child growing up were the sounds of the men working cleaning the scrap – the banging and clanging of the metal – some of the women in my extended family remember using electrical wire as skipping ropes – the scrap was part of our environment and was valued.
Travellers started this recycling in Cork before it became fashionable or more widely spread. Travellers were recycling, on a daily basis long before the government or EU were promoting it.
There were two dumps in Cork where Traveller men, were very active – gathering and removing any items that could be reused, cleaned and sold on – giving them a new life and saving them from landfill.
Last year CTWN installed a Traveller heritage sign where the old Black Ash halting site once stood, on the land of today’s Tramore Valley park.
Today the same land holds the council run recycling centre – and I am very proud to say that the work of enterprising Traveller men paved the way for this, Travellers developed a model of working where the waste was sorted and separated into trolleys on site in much the same way of how the recycling centre runs today.
Travellers are a big part of Cork’s recycling and circular economy stories showing that this waste was a valuable resource.
I grew up in a community where Travellers saw that almost everything can be recycled or fixed.
I grew up seeing men fixing up items – like old radios – to bring them into use again. Using a professional repair man was something that still to this day wouldn’t enter many Traveller’s heads – we would have a go at fixing it ourselves first. This is instilled into us.
Even after my family moved into a house – we would have a shed out the back full with spare parts – to anyone else it might look like rubbish but to us it’s a store; in case anyone in the extended family needs a part for something that breaks down. My father has a shed with parts for old hoovers, lawnmowers and car parts, … and it’s used by the whole family as a resource to fix things to this day.
My grandfather repaired broken umbrellas and lawnmowers around Ballyphehane for years. He was self-taught repair man and provided an important service to the people of Ballyphehane.
I look back and feel very lucky to have been reared this way among Travellers who see waste as a resource, going against the grain of today’s throw away society.
Design historian Claudia Kinmonth offered historical context on thrift and reuse in Ireland, exploring how these practices have evolved over time and how they remain deeply ingrained in Irish society. Meanwhile, Paul Bolger from UCC’s Environmental Research Institute provided the scientific rationale behind the importance of the circular economy in addressing climate change, emphasising that the lessons from Cork’s past could play a vital role in solving the environmental challenges of the future.
The Circular Tales project was more than just a look back—it was a roadmap for the future. Through the stories of re-soling shoes, mending clothes, and reusing discarded materials, the project illuminated the principles of the circular economy and how these practices can inspire a more sustainable and creative future. It was a reminder that the journey toward a better world doesn’t just begin with innovation; it begins with remembering, honouring, and carrying forward the wisdom of those who have come before us.
Through these shared stories, the Circular Tales team brought to life a powerful narrative of sustainability, resilience, and community. And in doing so, they reminded us that the Travelling community led the way in the field of reuse and recycling.
