The Method Brand has introduced the first product packaging made with partial recycled ocean plastic debris from the Pacific Ocean gire. The plastic blend is 10% post consumer recycled plastic and part recovered floating waste from our oceans.

The intent is to raise awareness about ocean pollution, the result is a unique grey colored bottle for their dish and hand soap combo. Visit their site to learn more about ocean pollution, here.

Resource Woodworks, a branch of the Center for Resource Conservation in Boulder gathers salvage materials from deconstructed homes that are being remodeled at their Resource Yard.

These treasures are then reworked to make fine ‘resourced’ furnishings, lighting and garden accessories (planters shown here). Shawn Hovin head of RW, works magic into each new piece that can rival any overpriced version found at trendy retailers. So much character lives in each new piece, and this non profit is really doing the Boulder Valley a wonderful service by not allowing precious resources to go to waste.

Shawn and his team do some fantastic custom work too, so if you are remodeling your home and would love something ecological and unique, go in and visit them.

Where: 6400 Arapahoe Rd.
Boulder, CO 80303
(303) 419-5418

Fort Collins has an additional branch at:

1501 N. College Ave.
Ft. Collins, CO 80524
970-498-9663

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It is incredibly difficult to work with recycled materials and have the end result be something chic and exciting without looking well,…plain recycled. But chic is exactly the outcome for the jewelry made by UK’s Emma Ware, who has meticulously made futuristic adornment from simple rubber inner tubes. Lovely work.

My friend Andy Schulman is a bit of a lighting genius. Each one of his creations looks like he was channeling the famous Nicola Tesla while wiring them up. Andy, a fellow Boulderite originally from Pennsylvania can illuminate any object, transforming them into delightful franken-chandeliers. If you can believe this isn’t even his day job!….he is also a crafted motion graphics geek in the ad world. Gotta love the talent!

In his own words, “Call it industrial. Duchampian. Utilitarian. Whimsical. Whatever you want to call the work of Andy Schulman of Afterglow Studio, the one undeniable adjective is, “Illuminated.”

At their most elemental, Andy’s pieces are functional lights; at their most metaphorical are testaments to bygone eras. The marvelous sculptures that come out of Afterglow Studio resonate with an audience that appreciates upcycled materials and reveres the inherent nostalgia Andy offers, usually with a sidecar of humor.

Andy’s materials have been culled from years of crawling through old barns combing in markets and from dumpster diving. The shelves of his studio are lined with racks of yet reused car parts, shoe forms, antique kitchem utencils, glassware, instruments and unidentifiable mechanical ephemera.

To him, this collection of vintage cast offs are not obsolete items, but relics awaiting new lives as chandeliers and table lamps. He says, “I love and respect old things with history, character and that were built to last. They may be useless or dirty, but they shouldn’t go in the garbage…I want to tell a new story with them.”

His small-scale and large-scale projects have infiltrated the design world as interest in recycled materials continues to grow.”

Don’t throw that chair out, it could become a piece of art! Really interesting furniture remnant animals created by Marc Sparfel. 

The Rhode Island designer/craftsman, Jamison Sellers salvages old wooden pallets, turning them into furniture and shelving that are modern and textural. The many colored scrap wood gives a modern take to recycling. Materials he incorporates into each piece would otherwise be destined for the fireplace or landfill.

Sellers is mindful of environmental responsibility and additionally uses only natural finishes, free of VOCs and solvents.

Mike Urban welds the most enchanting dinosaur sculptures for the yard or garden from bits of metal. Reclaimed scraps from tractors, shovels and other implements give the dinosaurs even more charm.

Mike Urban

German designer Michael Wolke  creates this amazing line of recycled pendant lighting. His Beute Lamp is hand-made from discarded cardboard

Available in two sizes; the small (40 cm by 30 cm) and large (60 cm by 30 cm).

Poketo manufactures these magnificent clutches from recycled leather. Oh yeah!!

Dewdrop Designs’ ipad cases and totes are made with recycled leathers. An eco way to store your tech gadgets and transportables.