Recycled stuff invades!

Since I listed ZPG’s recycled tire belts on Etsy a couple of months ago, I’ve gotten sucked into an awesome world of hand-made, creatively-reused, recycled wares — and now it seems such stuff is popping up everywhere.

Meg, the awesome owner of Velo Rouge Cafe, showed me a table made out of old bike wheels by a company up in Oregon called Resource Revival. A few days later, while picking up old tires from the Sports Basement, in the Presidio, a buddy showed me his new handmade Love Life messenger bag, which incorporated a rad swath of crazy old fabric.  Shortly thereafter, I made it down to the Scroungers’ Center for Reusable Art Parts, otherwise known as SCRAP SF and spent an hour giggling and inspired as I poked through thousands of parts and supplies and doodads. Two friends — Blanche and Mansur — who hand-make hats and wallets and such pointed me to the place; thank you. Then I found out that there’s a similar place over the bridge, called the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. I haven’t been yet… A few days later, I got word that a new place, called Made From Scrap, just opened up in town, and it looks like they’ll be selling ZPG belts soon.

At the same time, friends also alerted me to a couple of big, mainstream-type stories in the news about companies that make stuff out of old, recycled products, including old sewer pipes, vodka bottles, traffic-lights, and old newspapers. There’s a WSJ story from 10/6 that mentions a company in Michigan that makes all sorts of furniture out of old bike parts, and an NYT story that mentions this woman, who knitted an ipod case out of an old magnetic tape.

Here here!