Alternative Eco Merchandise Products
Necessity is the mother of invention, and merchandise companies are innovating with alternative products. Bagco currently has a range of recycled cotton, which is made from recycled cotton and rPET (recycled plastic bottles). All samples are sent in paper bags with minimal packaging for orders – one cardboard box and this is the box that the goods are packed in from the factories. The company also makes a donation to Plastic Oceans for every recycled bag sold.
It’s not really new, but Dunelm Glass is promoting a range of glass bottles as classy alternatives to plastic. They can be branded and are one of the original recyclable products, either through direct reuse as in milk and beer bottles, or for other bottles, or building materials. Cupprint has developed reCUP, an innovative cup made to go through standard recycling with paper and card and not a specialist waste stream. The reCup Double Wall was awarded AAA certification by the Institute cyclos-HTP in conjunction with the German Green Dot scheme – the first and only paper cup to achieve this classification.
Cupprint business development manager, Edward Pinnock, says: “Consumers are more mindful of plastic usage and turning to paper cups as a more sustainable alternative. The reCUP uses an EarthCoating mineralised liner that breaks down easily in regular paper pulping processes, meaning customers are demanding it as a more easily recyclable cup.”
Inspired by origami, Paperwallet, supplied by Swag Distribution, is an eco-friendly wallet, crafted from part-recycled materials and the unique material of Tyvek, which is 100% recyclable. Additionally, it is lightweight, durable, waterproof and available with RFID protection.
With more than 38.5 million plastic bottles and around seven million disposable coffee cups used in the UK every day, there is a growing demand for reusable promotional drinkware. Listawood’s new range of thermal bottles and flasks utilise state of the art production techniques to offer a level of personalisation from as little as 30 bottles, despatched in just 48 hours. Castelli has introduced the “The Appeel collection”. Made from apple peel, vegetable fibers and FSC certified sustainable pulp, Appeel is crafted from patented and pioneering technology for an innovative sustainable paper goods option.
