Conserve is a non-profit organization that takes plastic bags found on the streets of India and transforms them as a versatile material for making shoes, handbags, messenger bags, etc. Supported by the Asian Development Bank, the organization employs marginalized people in India's slums in the production and collection of the materials.
If there's one thing I've learned from their example, it's to be resourceful and creative. As we get older I think we sometimes forget about this, opting for whatever is more convenient. As a kid, I didn't throw much away, turning sticker-decorated shoe boxes into a place to store my letters and photos (as an adult you can go to the Container Store and buy boxes that do the exact same thing for $10 or more); Tic Tac containers into ant farms (with disastrous results); magazine pages, when cut, folded and glued became great pen pal envelopes. Today, I use produce bags as trash bags and save plastic takeout containers for food storage. I could definitely be doing more... anyone have a good idea for hundreds of plastic jewel cases?(Photos courtesy Conserve)
If you take the inside of the jewel case out (where the CD goes), you can use the outside as a case for a desktop calendar. Like this: http://kimemories.typepad.com/celebrate_life/2008/12/challenge-create-a-cd-case-calendar.html.
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