Recycle Week is held annually by Recycle Now to help businesses, charities and individuals engage with the way we dispose of our waste. Recycling is at a record high globally, however the sheer amount of waste we make means that drastic action must be taken. Recycling can be done in so many amazing, creative and powerful ways and we wanted to highlight some brands that do exactly that!
HANDLE
HANDLE take used beauty packaging and turn it into beautiful products. They work with both businesses and individuals, offering exclusive benefits and discounts to those who recycle through their circular scheme. They collect waste from salons, barbers, beauty brands and online retailers, sorting it into the correct streams so that it can be recycled effectively. On their website you will find beautiful gift sets as well as individual products including hairbrushes, toothbrushes, razors and mirrors. Their products are sleek, sturdy and sophisticated and make fantastic gifts for the sustainably-minded beauty lover in your life. Their packaging is all made from recycled materials and is also 100% recyclable.
Wyatt & Jack
Wyatt & Jack are a UK based sustainable brand, creating colourful bags and accessories from salvaged bouncy castles, deckchair canvas and inflatables, since 2010. Not only this, they remain responsible for their products even after they have reached the customer by offering repairs. In 2018 they launched their Inflatable Amnesty, which allows the public to send in their broken inflatables, to avoid sending them to landfill, with the option of also having a bag made for themselves. We absolutely love their colourful Retro Rainbow collection as well as their homewares and kids collections.
Ocean Sole
Ocean Sole is an amazing social enterprise that turns discarded flip flops from the coast of Kenya into art and apparel! Their designs are created to raise awareness about plastic waste and the effects it has on our oceans and marine life, but also to be a fun addition to your home or workplace. Since 1998 Ocean Sole has cleaned up over 1,000 tonnes of flip-flops from the ocean and waterways. By turning waste into these colourful creations, Ocean Sole is supporting over 900 low-income Kenyans in the social enterprise and has donated over 10% of their sales to marine conservation.
Artisans & Adventurers Jewellery
We'd be remiss if we didn't include our own beautiful jewellery! Made from recycled gold-tone brass, aluminium and silver, each piece is expertly hand-crafted by artisans in Kenya and Jaipur. Our signature pieces are hand cast in Kenya by husband and wife team, Anton and Benta. We only use recycled brass, ceramic and aluminium in this collection as they are the most sustainable jewellery materials available. We're so passionate about using recycled metals for this simple reason; £36,000,000 worth of aluminium is thrown away each year and if all cans in the UK were recycled, we would need 14 million fewer dustbins. The timeless designs of our jewellery collections means you can treasure these pieces for many years to come.
We hope you enjoyed learning about some of these fantastic brands! Do you have a favourite small business that works with recycled materials? Let us know!