All you trash picker-uppers and dumpster divers take note. You can win a year’s worth of wind energy by refurbishing your finds or turning them into art or home decor.

Dallas-based Breeze Energy, a 100 percent Texas wind energy company, is sponsoring a contest in an effort to make the public become more “green conscious,” with prize being a free year of Breeze Energy and second prize a Breeze Beach Cruiser custom bike designed by Villy Custom.

“We launched the contest this year, April 22, Earth Day Texas at Fair Park,” says Catherine Dowgwillo, marketing assistant with Breeze Energy. “We want to activate the community to really take an active role in cleaning up Dallas and surrounding areas.”

Breeze Energy is the only energy provider to offer 100 percent wind energy, getting its wind power from wind farms in West Texas.

Because Breeze Energy supports all efforts to keep our planet clean and green, the Trash2Treasure Go Green Contest is their way of extending their footprint with renewables.

Dowgwillo says that keeping our planet green can be as easy as picking up trash, recycling, reusing, repurposing, and always choosing renewable. In choosing an energy plan, Breeze Energy is a great economical way to keep your community green.

The Trash2Treasure Go Green Contest encourages the public to pick up trash around their community. “We recommend that you go to Trinity Trail, but you can just go into your own backyard,” suggests Dowgwillo.

Guidelines for entering the contest are:

1. Pick up some trash and snap a selfie of you and your find.
2. Create a treasure – you can create some art, repurpose what you found or it might already be a treasure – just needs a bit of a cleanup.
3. Snap another selfie of your trash – turned into a treasure.
4. Post to Breeze Energy’s Facebook page, Instagram and tweet your friends about your uber awesome Trash2Treasure! Use the following hashtags: Facebook: @Breeze Energy; Twitter: @Breeze_Energy; Instagram: @breeze_energy
5. Enter your treasure at BreezeEnergyGoGreen.com, starting April 22 to enter your Trash2Treasure to win cool prizes.

A good example is taking a tire that can’t be used for cars, spray paint, add some recycled fabric and use as a planter. Oftentimes, items just need a good cleaning, e.g., someone found a Gumby Doll at White Rock Lake, cleaned it up, and restored it to its original beauty. Bottle caps make great mosaic hangings for the wall. A gentleman professor at Barbara Caldwell Career Preparatory actually made a 3D turtle out of a bottle.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and with a little imagination and elbow grease you stand a chance of winning a year’s worth of Breeze Energy or a sleek custom-made bike. Besides, there is a therapeutic side to creating beautiful/useful items.

As of this writing, no entries have been posted, but Dowgwillo says that there have been a few entries.

“We’re still getting the word out,” she says. “We’ve had a lot of interest from businesses and people on the street. July 1 is the deadline, and we will announce the winners about one or two weeks after deadline – about mid-July.”

For more information, visit BreezeEnergy.com.

Reprinted with permission of GreenSourceDFW.org.