I didn't think I'd be posting about umbrellas in July, but the last month or so I haven't left home without one, and all across the country things don't look much better, so here we are. Monsoon Vermont make products out of garbage collected by scavengers in Indonesia. It uses mainly the plastic based products that will never degrade, but will instead remain on landfill sites for hundreds of years, like detergent packets. The 'Trash to Treasure' collection is part of The Scavenger Project, the brainchild of Julia Gennatosio, who visited Jakarta in 2005. She was struck by the amount of people scavenging through rubbish heaps looking for food, and other 'valuable' items, and decided to try to make it more worthwhile by creating a livelihood for them.
Related: Pick your favourite cradle-to-cradle umbrella recycle
The rubbish collected is fashioned into consumables like umbrellas, tote bags, shower curtains etc. by the people who collect it, so they are able to earn a wage and learn valuable skills from their pastime. Some of the money generated from the products is also donated to the YE Water Program, which "works with disadvantaged Indonesian communities to build public health & hygiene awareness through sustainable environmental engineering service projects". You see, every cloud does have a silver lining. This umbrella will cost you US$60
Hey that is awsome. I have seen people with hand bags made of similare material, very impressive. Can you send me directions on how to make that?