Turning Street Trash into Eco-Fash(ion)
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 12.26.08
Photo via Original Good
This is Garbage. Or so says its description. This and many other beautiful items are made by an organization called Conserve, which takes non-recyclable trash from the streets of India and turns it into treasures.
Click through for a video about the project.
CONSERVE is a recycling and waste management NGO (non-governmental organization) that was founded in October 2003 in response to the mountains of garbage and litter, especially plastic bags, that had become a common sight around the city of New Delhi.“We collected waste from 500 houses to make compost in a municipal corporation park. That’s when we realized how much plastic the city uses. So we started on the plastic bag project” says Anita Ahuja, President of Conserve.
The organization employs women from the local area to sort through the plastics and process them into more durable plastic materials. They're then fashioned into new items to be sold from places like Original Good, a fair trade shopping website.
More on Recycled Fashion:
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If they use women to sort the trash, men must get the easy part of sewing-see video. Fair trade? really?