{"id":4093,"date":"2009-01-28T11:19:03","date_gmt":"2009-01-28T17:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4093"},"modified":"2009-01-28T11:19:03","modified_gmt":"2009-01-28T17:19:03","slug":"durable-stylish-and-made-in-america-ecologic-designs-green-guru-wallets-made-from-upcycled-bike-tires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/durable-stylish-and-made-in-america-ecologic-designs-green-guru-wallets-made-from-upcycled-bike-tires\/","title":{"rendered":"Durable, stylish and Made in America: Ecologic Designs’ Green Guru Wallets made from Upcycled Bike Tires"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Ecologic Designs’ story starts like this:\u00a0 \u201cThere is always talk about a killer set of waves and dolphins playing in the surf, an epic afternoon rolling across warm red rocks on your bike, or a hike in fresh powder on a full moon snowshoe trek. There is also talk about a beach polluted by sludge or surfing next to trash, trails that all of a sudden become strip malls, or the snow trip sans snow because of global warming.\u201d It\u2019s this kind of understanding that guides Ecologic Design<\/a>, through their two brands Green Guru Gear and Green Goddess, to craft products and fashions in Boulder, Colorado, that have a positive environmental and social impact, while raising ecological awareness.<\/p>\n Take Green Guru\u2019s Blow Out series bi-fold wallet, for example.\u00a0 The company uses reclaimed bike inner tubes to create a stylish and waterproof exterior. Every item in their Blow Out series is made from 98% reclaimed and recycled content by weight.\u00a0 Each wallet features a six card and two bill compartments.\u00a0 The ultimate in a locally-based enterprise, drawing from a readily available waste stream, Green Guru\u2019s butyl rubber comes from Reclamation Stations within about eighteen miles from there they\u2019re manufactured. Green Guru Pouches, Chalk Bags and Messenger Bags are also made from the upcycled inner tubes.<\/p>\n Since spring of 2007, Ecologic Designs has been an ecopreneurial trailblazer, creating viable and sustainable enterprises by harvesting the waste stream, often referred to as \u201cupcycling<\/a>\u201d: the practice of recycling or repurposing items destined for the landfill and transforming them into something of further use and value. Upcycling was coined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, authors of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things<\/em>.\u00a0 The butyl rubber, also called vulcanized rubber, is not cost-effective and very difficult to recycle; therefore these inner tubes usually end up in local landfills where they won’t degrade for many years.\u00a0 Unfortunately, tires and inner tubes account for over 50% of the rubber produced each year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By harvesting waste locally, manufacturing locally, and selling locally<\/a> (and nationally, too), Ecologic Designs takes one form of the emerging green business enterprise devoted to creating American opportunities with products Made in America<\/a> and improving our communities.\u00a0 \u201cHow many people have a wallet made in America,\u201d asks Davidson Lewis, President of Green Guru, with a smile.\u00a0 He\u2019s the kind of person you might expect crossing paths with on top of a mountain, on a mountain bike trail, or plying the waters on a surf board — not on a trade show floor.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re constantly searching for ways to continue to green our operations,\u201d adds Lewis, recognizing that nature, too, is always changing and evolving.<\/p>\n I met Lewis at the Go Green Expo in Los Angeles after giving a presentation on \u201cGreening your Business\u201d based on my book, ECOpreneuring<\/a>.\u00a0 Green Guru could have been one of our examples of a triple bottom line business<\/a> since so much of their operations sing out to care for people and planet while generating the profits to make the world a better place.\u00a0 Even Ecologic Design\u2019s vehicles express their commitment; the company has modified current vehicles, like their Eco Ambulance<\/a>, into waste vegetable oil (WVO) powered machines.<\/p>\n