Conserve.

Conserve produces fashionable goods out of recycled material. I heard about the NGO while I was in Delhi a week back.

I had an opportunity to visit Conserve’s studio and showroom and am thoroughly excited to share their products with you. Conserve started out producing goods from recycled polythene bags that are discarded along the street. If you have ever been to India, you probably noticed that throwing trash right outside of your house/car/rickshaw is completely legit (I’m not saying I support it, just giving the lay of the land). This is one of the many things that makes India look/feel dirty. There has been a tremendous push, especially in large metropolises, to get rid of the trash that has been discarded literally everywhere.

This is where the ‘rag picker’ comes into play. A ‘rag picker’ goes around the city picking up trash, similar to a garbage man, but he/she is way more skilled (than a garbage man). Not only do they pick up trash, they also separate goods into recyclable and non-recyclable goods. I had an opportunity to visit a rag-picker and see how they sort and separate large amounts of trash into plastics, paper, rubber (courtesy of an NGO called Chintan). They even further separate recycled materials into subcategories, for example separating plastics even further into bottle caps, water bottles, colored plastics, clear plastics, etc.

In any case, Conserve has advanced its processes and now uses a variety of recycled materials (including tires) to produce really cool products, some of which I have photographed above. You can find their products at Wholefoods in the U.S. and visit their website at http://www.conserveindia.org.

You Can't Have Any Color You Like.

or:

For those of you who live in New York, I was wondering if in the last year, you have see any streets lined with bright pink (with black polka dot) trash bags (like the image above). At first when I heard about the "anycoloryoulike" project, and its attempt at the beautification of trash (with biodegradable trash bags), I thought "wow that is cool (eco-friendly)!!!"

But after further consideration, I decided that even though I love PINK, and the thought of pink trash bags sounds cool (in theory), it is not! Why would you ever want to beautify trash bags?? Beautifying things makes people more attracted to them, which makes them want to have/use them. Take the iPod, although mp3 players were out for a while, Apple's ability to create this sleek, fun to use device caused a music/technology revolution. I hope this isn't what happens with these trash bags (they are scented too apparently). We want to produce less trash not more!!! By giving people pretty trash bags, you are encouraging them to throw things away. I support the biodegradable aspect, but you can already buy bags with that feature, and for a lot cheaper.

So really, we don't want/need trash bags in "Anycoloryoulike", and I dislike(potentially hate) your project, Adrian Kondratowicz (I don't dislike you however, since I don't know you). The only great thing about these bags is they are $35 per 10, so who the heck (I had another word here before) would buy them anyways? Who, you ask? BIMBOS!

In addition, a bunch of magazines claim that these beautiful trash bags were meant for dual purpose - to beautify the city and help bring attention to how much trash we throw away. If that is true, then why the hell are you selling them[trash bags] on your website? I am semi-open to changing my mind about these bags and your project. But please, EXPLAIN.

Pictured below is more Bimboness (note: the photograph, as art, is cool):