Green Thing Blog

Bottletop Campaign is a charity dedicated to improving the lives of young people in need worldwide through education projects designed to empower them. They focus their attentions on issues such as sexual and reproductive health, substance abuse and gender equality. Sounds great but why is it a green thing I hear you ask.

Well Bottletop Trading Ltd, their trading company, designs and produces ethically sourced and environmentally friendly products and these mainly come from the countries where they give their support, helping to alleviate poverty by teaching a skill and then paying for the products produced.

At UK Aware this weekend we spotted their fabulously funky ring-pull bags. Started four years ago in Salvador, Brazil, Production Manager Luciano Dos Santos and Bottletop Director Oliver Wayman, grabbed an opportunity to train seven local women to make fashion accessories from recycled ring-pulls, an existing but underdeveloped craft in Brazil. Within three short months the women were churning out high quality belts and had moved on to learning the art of bag making. These items were shipped to the UK and were being snapped up by green fashionistas. As more and more were sold, sewing machines were bought for the ladies and more women were given the opportunity to master this craft. It’s so popular they have a waiting list of women eager to learn and earn.

The ring pulls themselves have been collected by local people, many living on the streets of Salvador. They get paid for each kilo of ring pulls they collect, which then get sorted, washed and laid out in the sun to dry. Once they are clean and ready to be created into a sparkling accessory, the ladies transform these small metal rings into bags and belts in the comfort of a cool building complete with childcare facilities. Every step of this fashionable journey has been designed to encourage and improve the lives of those involved. With 46 people in the community now involved in the production of these bags and over 5000 sold, this project is making a noticeable difference to the lives of many in Salvador. So when they get shipped to the UK we can buy these wonderful all-consuming accessories to up our style cred.

For more sustainable luxury check out Elvis and Kresse and their gorgeous wallets made from old fire hoses.

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Last festival season we called in designer extraordinaire Vanessa Harden to tackle the issues of waste at festivals. The brief was to reinvent tents. Rather then tents be a disposable, one time use sort of shelter at festivals, how could we encourage people to seek out alternatives. And so Future Tents was born: the world's first biodegradable tent.

After testing the prototype at T in the Park in Scotland last July, Vanessa and our team quickly realised that in fact biodegradable may not be the best option. So, Vanessa got thinking. And material sourcing. She spoke to product designers and innovators around the world. After a nearly a years' worth of meetings and conversations, the next stage of Future Tents turned into a project about making use of waste already at festivals. Insert Scavenger, a festival tent made from found materials and rubbish.

Some of the UK's biggest festivals have come and gone leaving behind piles of rubbish. Reports from Glastonbury say that they expect around nine tonnes of glass, 54 tonnes of cans and plastic bottles, 41 tonnes of cardboard and 66 tonnes of metal to be left post-festival. Needless to say, there has to be a better way to manage and reduce the wasteful nature of summer's best past time. And this is what Vanessa set out to do - create awareness about festival waste, recycling and how a bit of ingenuity can go a long way.

She set her sights high, and was awarded an artist pod at Bonnaroo, one of America's biggest music festivals. And this is what went down ...

Wednesday

We are here at Bonnaroo music festival, Tennessee.

We have been here for three days scavenging already. It is “pre-fest” time with the festival opening its doors to the campers tonight. If only for the weekend the music festival will be the 3rd most populous city in the state of Tennessee.

One word to describe Americas biggest music festival? Hot. Most important thing to do in heat? Drink. Favourite liquid refreshment of Bonnaroo? Beer and lots of it. And were are taking the empty cans and make structures.

We have scavenged masses of beers cans, with help from our lovely volunteers. They are bringing their beer cans, pizza boxes, tent pegs by the truck load (and American trucks are big).

Thursday

We have finished building the columns and have begun sowing the bed sheets together.  Finally, by late afternoon the sheet was thrown over the canned pillars and secured safely.

In addition to creating a structure that would enavle us to host other festival goers, we used the remaining cans to build a fence around the structure in order to give our space a sense of privacy.

This worked out quite well, giving the entire space a familiar homelike feeling, enticing people to “stop in” for a drink or pose in front of our structure for a picture.  Our tent was becoming exactly what we had hoped for, a place where people could come and hang out day and night. Tonight we’ve decided to join in the opening festivities, have a wonder around the festival and see some bands!

Friday

First thing this morning, we went to conduct a seedpill workshop in the eco-village located in Centeroo. The workshop attracted more than 50 people all wanting to learn the art of seedpill making while exchanging stories about the guerrilla gardening movement.

After the workshop, we walked back to our site to enjoy a lazy Friday afternoon reclined under the white canopies of our tent entertaining other festival-goers who desperately needed to get our of the heat.

Our tent attracted a wide variety of people from across the United-States, all wanting to sit down in the shade and engage in conversation.

Saturday

Today we’ve spent the day seeing what else we can build with the remaining cans.

Armed with our utility knives and duct tape we’re thinking of unique ways of adapting beer cans to suit our needs.

Sunday

It’s the last day of Bonnaroo! By this evening we had to have the tent down and all 2 576 cans “de-ductaped” and ready to continue their journey to the recycling centre.  Although we had anticipated spending all day dismantling the structure, with the help of a couple of volunteers, we managed to take it apart in less than 2 hours.  One of our volunteers liked the structure so much that he decided to take the palm trees home and display them in his house!

During the course of the week, we’ve had a large water-cooler bottle located at the front of the tent inviting people to “leave a message in a bottle.” 

And here's what they had to say:

And one of the best comments: "I don't think I have ever been thanked for giving someone my trash before". Just brilliant.

Monday

While travelling back home today, I’ve had the chance to read over 50 letters and comments that have been left in the “Message in a Bottle” container.  Thank you to all of you who took the time to let us know your thoughts on the project.  Now to take these comments and suggestions and design a newer and better version for next year!  Stay tuned…

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To read about Vanessa's full experience, visit the Future Tents Tumblr.

For plenty of more beautifully taken photos of Scavenger, check out Ross Cairns on Flickr.

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