Nonprofit Spotlight Series: Resilia Celebrates WRAP, Waste Reduction Art Project

Resilia is excited to continue our Nonprofit Spotlight Series, highlighting some of the incredible organizations doing great work in our communities across the country. These are the people who energize and compel us to do what we do every day. We’ll be highlighting their work all month long. Take a moment with us to celebrate our nonprofit founders who are changing the world. Our series continues with Waste Reduction Art Project Inc. (WRAP) and founder Yana Good Nigen. 

Nonprofit Founder

WRAP was conceived by founder Yana Good Nigen in February of 2020. The idea first came to Nigen when she observed how recycling was done at her offices and at home, turning a good initiative into a race for recycling. Yana realized that we need to think about sustainable and responsible living and thoughtful use of our resources. This is when the idea of turning waste into art came to mind. 

Instead of constantly piling paper, plastic, rubber, metal and other material into appropriate bins  -Nigen thought - how can we be thoughtful about how much of these materials people actually need to consume on a daily basis? Nigen asked herself what can be done to slow down and even reimagine waste management. This is how WRAP was born.

The Mission

WRAP benefits the planet through recycled art and education, connects communities to grow environmental preservation awareness through unique art programs, and helps quantify recycling efforts across corporations and communities.   

The Goal

WRAP works closely with local artists, private collectors, and organizations of all sizes in efforts to reduce the global waste footprint and raise awareness about the global ecology crisis. 

By shifting our focus to creativity and art we are helping reimagine waste management. We are seeing highest engagement levels with our programs. Recycling can and should be fun and creative! 

Where We Are Now

We are creating educational programs and are currently in the process of opening our first WRAP educational center in New York City. 

We are able to track and quantify all our efforts with help of blockchain technology developed by our partners Empower.eco. Each art piece created has a digital passport that tracks the efforts of collecting and creating the art from start to finish.  

The Big Dream

WRAP educational center is our big dream and next step in growing awareness in our recycled art programs. The center will further support our efforts in the recycled art education space and help local communities build earth preservation awareness in fun, creative and collaborative ways.