Every year thousands of discarded flip flops/ rubber thongs wash up on the shores of East Africa causing serious problems and endangering marine life. Turtle hatchlings have difficulty reaching the ocean through all the rubbish, and plankton feeders such as whales swallow and suffocate on the rubber.
This is just one more problem in communities already suffering from poverty and underdevelopment. A clever project began with a group of women from Kiwayu, a small island on the northern Kenyan coastline. They started to clean the coast by collecting the waste, which included plastic and old tyres in addition to flip flops. The trash then gained new life in a ingenious recycling program. The waste was cleaned, beaded into raw material for production and turned into colourful and unique hand-made art pieces.
These bracelets are one of the products of that program. They are the perfect eco-friendly accessory or just a fun and unique gift. The colourful bracelets are made in Kenya from the recycled rubber thongs ( flip-flops ) which washed up on the beaches. Collected and cut into small tube shaped beads then strung together to make these brilliant earth and people friendly bracelets. These really would make a perfect friendship bracelet, symbolic of the bond between you and someone you care about and the bond between you and the Earth. With recycled material making up 100% of these bracelets, what better way to show people you care about them and the environment, all while supporting West African communities.
One-of-a-kind purses and wallets ingeniously made from recycled fish feed bags. Every hand made recycled wallet is different, with different Cambodian lettering and fish-related pictures. Not only are these fun wallets eco-friendly but being made from fish feed bags makes them strong, long lasting and light. These wallets and purses are handcrafted in Cambodia by disabled and disadvantaged women.
Earth friendly and people friendly, can't get better than that!!
This truly unique animal has been made from rubber flip-flops ( rubber thongs) that have washed up on a Kenyan beach.
Made by a company that was started in response to an ecological nightmare – discarded flip flops washing up on Kenyan beaches in vast numbers. The invading tide of debris kept turtles from laying eggs and the baby turtles from returning to the ocean. It is a
very clever way of dealing with the pollution on the beaches in Kenya
Rubber flip-flops are collected and recycled into the most amazing products. These stunning eco-friendly animal sculptures are drawing attention to environmental problems, promoting recycling in a creative and delightful way and generating employment for over 150 people.
This bunch of brightly coloured flowers is not only gorgeous but unusual and delightful. Made from recycled aluminium cans the petals are carefully cut from discarded soft drink cans and formed to make the daisies. Each flower is a different combination of colours and patterns. The words Coca Cola are clearly seen on many of the flowers. Theserecycled tin crafts from Madagascar are a part of the ever growing range of recycled folk art products that are now becoming increasingly popular in the Western World and providing employment and a constructive way of dealing with waste for those in less developed countries.
In many countries in Africa, resourceful people have long excelled at fashioning toys from whatever materials are available - tin cans, wire and plastic that is discarded as trash. The motivation behind the recycling is not environmental concerns but because poverty has limited their choices in life and people have found what value they can in the materials available to them. The skill and creativity applied to make these African recycled products is impressive, there is in each and every product ingenuity and humour that makes these simple objects immensely appealing. In addition to brightly coloured tin trucks cars and motor scooters made from cans there are even flowers, brightly coloured cheerful tin daisies. It is the ability to see the value in everything that makes recycled art quite inspirational
Paper made from elephant poo ? Yes! People often laugh when they first encounter the idea but everything from notebooks to cards is printed on the paper. ( yes, the poo is treated as part of the paper-making process.)
The original motivation behind Elephant Dung Paper was that in Sri Lanka they’re considered a problem particularly to the farmers. Creating a market for their excrement made them valuable to the local people and this now offers some protection to the animals. Because elephants are vegetarian animals, their dung is pretty much just dried-out plants that are partially digested,.
High quality, handmade eco-friendly elephant dung paper and paper products manufactured by Maximus under the peace paper plan can be bought through Ethical Gifts. By purchasing these products, you are not only helping the environment by saving a tree but you are also contributing to the care of the endangered Sri Lankan elephant.
Just love the Eco Max Craft-a-Card (pictured above), a card making kit for children made from elephant dung paper.
At Ethical Gifts we offer you something special. If you are looking for eco toys, eco gifts for children, green gift , recycled gifts, environmentally friendly gifts, eco bags,eco gifts for women, ethical gifts for Christmas, or just a unique gift idea you will find it at Ethical Gifts. Ethical Gifts only stocks gifts which have a positive impact on the people who make them and do no harm to the planet. We have a great range of fairtrade, handmade and eco-friendly gifts, jewellery,environmentally friendly bags, handmade toys, fairtrade cards, home-ware and more which you can buy safe in the knowledge that you are doing your bit for our world and for the people we share it with.
