Earth Day 2013 is just three days away—help us celebrate! On Monday, the world will come together and discuss what we as a global community can do to protect our precious natural resources. Here at Seven Hopes, we want to do our part by highlighting some of our favorite products made using recycled materials. When you purchase the below items or many others from our site, you’re helping sustain not only our fair trade artisans and their economy, but the Earth we all inhabit as well. So what are you waiting for? Cybershop away!
1. Recycled Flip-Flop Doormat: These bright doormats add a punch of color to your doorstep. Constructed by hand with scrap foam rubber wastes from flip flop manufacturing factories in the Philippines, these fun mats are keeping this material from ending up in land fills.
2. Yellow Warming Basket: This sunny catch-all is handwoven by Wolof women in Senegal, West Africa. Made from typha and recycled plastic strips used in the production of prayer mats, this lidded basket is not only beautiful, but eco-friendly.
3. Blown Glass Goblets: Handmade by our fair trade artisans in Mexico, these beautiful glasses are intricately detailed and crafted from recycled glass using hand-blown techniques perfected over more than thirty years.
4. African Hamper: This African basket hamper is handwoven from African grass and recycled plastic. Handwoven by a network of more than 100 rural Wolof women, these lovely storage baskets are not only a practical addition to your home, but help provide a vital fair trade income for women who face difficulty selling their baskets in the local market.
{About the Artist: Wolof women in rural Senegal have been crafting coil style baskets for generations. While traditional baskets were crafted using cattail stalks bound with strips of reed, modern baskets are bound with strips of plastic either recycled from old prayer mats or purchased new from a mat factory in Dakar.}
5. Recylced Flour Sack Apron: Eco-friendly and fun, these aprons are made from recycled flour sacks by our fair trade partners in Peru. Due to the nature of recycled fabric, each apron is unique and comes in a variety of colors and patterns.
This product (and #6 below!) was made with care by Grupo Mana in Peru. With the support of the Bridge of Hope Project, the group was formed in 2002. The workshop is located above one of the member’s homes, and the artisans have learned about taxes, bookkeeping, and have taken sewing classes to further develop their sewing skills. The group members have been able to make home improvements and send their children to school, thanks to their involvement in fair trade.
6. Recycled Flour Sack Towel: These one-of-a-kind beauties are crafted from recycled Peruvian flour sacks, also by the Grupo Mana group.
How do you plan to celebrate Earth Day? Head to the shopping section of our Website if you’re interested in checking out more of our eco-friendly, recycled products (psst: lots of jewelry! Just type “recycled” in the search field.) To find out more about Earth Day and its’ origins, click here.
XO,
Casey
Consumers have tremendous power to create a better world for all workers. We can demand better working conditions and greater rights for workers just by purchasing fair trade items. Such a purchase may seem small to us but in fact it may be huge to others!
