🌍 Get psyched for recycling ♻️

From terrazzo-print phone chargers made from textile waste to clogs made from vintage rugs, these are the people and projects repurposing with purpose

Welcome to BRiMM, the collective, journal and planet-positive shop that’s here to help you live a lower-impact life, without life feeling less

Recycled, circular outwear from The RE-PETE Project. More on that below

Before you delve into this week’s newsletter, a reminder that there are still a few tickets left for both our Stitch & Bitch event and our BRiMM + British Pasture Leather experiential Field Day programme. Head to our events page now for tickets.

Plus, subscribe to this newsletter for free if you haven’t already, to receive new posts, support our work and hear about all the exciting stuff.

This week’s theme is… get psyched for recycling ♻️
Tomorrow is the beginning of Recycle Week, so today we’re celebrating the wonderful world of repurposing. We thought we’d start by establishing the difference between recycling and its other half, upcycling – because both are great, but they are not the same. Recycling breaks down materials, often by shredding or using a chemical process, before reconstituting them into a new raw material, while upcycling simply takes the original item and repurposes it into something else as it is, meaning that you can often see evidence of the original item in the new one.

The RE-PETE Project, for example (pictured: top), makes its outwear from rPET, which is recycled items like plastic bottles and coffee lids – you can’t see the bottles and lids in the parkas and trench coats, because they’ve been reconstituted into something completely different. World Secrets shoes, on the other hand, makes its carpet clogs from vintage rugs, which is pretty evident when you take a look at them in their resplendent colourful patterned glory.

Clever, eh? And there are so many brilliant brands, people and projects that are saving materials from going to waste and lowering their production impact to boot. How about turning an old pair of socks into a bespoke charger, for instance? (Yes, really.) RE_CONSIDERED transforms unwanted textile waste into lovely things like jewellery, furniture and homeware. It uses locally sourced UK textile waste (or yours) to make bold, colourful pieces from its innovative Fabreco material, which looks a bit like terrazzo. Müll Club recycles household plastic waste into beautiful, usable objects like combs and soap dishes (they have a particular penchant for pink Vanish tubs). Founder Charlie started the club when she learned that in the UK, 58% of plastic waste collected for recycling ends up in landfill, 14% is exported, 11% is incinerated, and only 17% is truly recycled – Müll Club aims to change that.

Recycled plastic gets a lot of air time, but less frequently discussed are the natural fibres that can be recycled, namely from clothes back into clothes. Teemill will accept 100% cotton clothing from any brand to be recycled and blended with virgin cotton, resulting in its ReMill recycled cotton fibre. This moves away from polyester – what the majority of recycled cottons use to strengthen their old fibres – and allows items to be recycled into natural products over and over again. Meanwhile, iinouiio, part of the Camira Group, has been using traditional Yorkshire wool recycling techniques since 1970 and will soon be upscaling to repurpose more textiles into yarn and cloth in its new Camira Yarns Mill in Huddersfield, and Gen Phoenix transforms discarded leather into high-performance materials. With so much material already in existence, repurposing it just makes sense.

Team up, tune in and let’s turn the tide,

BRiMM x

---

BRiMM JOURNAL: NEW THIS WEEK

This week we have an extract from Emmi Salonen’s fantastic new book The Creative Wellbeing Handbook. This creative director and educator’s work centres on Positive Creativity – “the idea that design can connect people, foster wellbeing and support sustainable choices”. And we’re here for it!

→ DISCOVER MORE

---

NEW! Our Breakfast Reset Boxes
Some of our own brands at BRiMM are fully on board the recycling train. My Skin Feels, whose own skincare products are made from rescued food, takes old beach towels and makes them into bags, in partnership with New Commodity. Self-care and skincare gurus UpCircle uses upcycled ingredients including hemp seed (from the textile industry), coffee grounds (from artisan cafés) and olive stones (from the olive oil industry). And our brand new Breakfast Reset Boxes contain two boxes of Nibs etc. granola that’s made using rescued British apple juice pulp and organic grains. So look no further if you want to try out some repurposed products for yourself. Fancy buying some of these products individually too? That will be possible very soon – watch this space.

→ SEE MORE

---

The BRiMM Life Questionnaire: Anastasia Miari
This week, we caught up with the wonderful food writer Anastasia Miari, whose two books, Yiayia and the recently released MEDITERRANEA feature recipes (and wisdom) from Greek and Mediterranean matriarchs. We’ve tried the recipes, they’re fantastic (read on for one below). We loved Anastasia’s responses to our questionnaire, including this gem: “Live like a Mediterranean granny! Eat seasonal, organic, cut your meat, up your friendships, social interactions and time outdoors. Swim and NAP more.”

Read the full interview over on our Journal now.

---

FROM THE COLLECTIVE

Brick. Borrow. Build. That’s what’s on the cards for Becky (and her kids) as they join this Lego borrowing community.

Hannah is planning on learning to weave with a brilliant kit from Shive Textiles, which rescues deadstock yarn otherwise destined for landfill.

As a member of the Not Yet Named Wine Co., Andy has been voting on which grapes to harvest and how they are processed. He also went on a “school trip” to the Slovenian vineyards to meet the winemaker and taste the wine as it was being made.

We love to hear what our collective is finding. Share your links with us in our Substack chat or send us an email

---

THIS WEEK’S LINK RECCOS

HANDY GANDYS
Gandys’ new collection of recycled modular bags includes backpacks with detachable compartments that transform front pockets into smaller sidekicks, to weekend tote bags with multiway straps that make it possible to carry them in endless different ways. There are loads of colours to choose from and even the tiniest crossbody bag is capable of carrying loads of essential kit.
→ BAG ONE

REVINYL REVIVAL
While some musicians have started using rPET vinyl, which is undoubtedly a better option than PVC, the traditional material, Billie Eilish tapped the skills of Precision Record Pressing in Ontario for her Hit Me Hard and Soft album. Their Eco Mix vinyl is made using rejected records and excess trim cut from newly pressed ones, which is then ground up before being pressed into new albums.
→ FIND OUT MORE

BIKER TROVE
Recyke Y’Bike has been refurbishing unwanted bicycles since 2006 in the north east of England. Their work not only saves bikes from heading to landfill, but allows them to sell bikes at an affordable price or give them away to people in need, all while raising money for local charities and encouraging people to get cycling, for the sake of both their health and the environment.
→ GET ON YER…

---

ANASTASIA MIARI’S SPANAKORIZO

Taken from Anastasia’s new book MEDITERRANEA, this super easy dish is a kind of Greek spinach risotto. The vegetables are the star of the show and it’s much less fussy to make than a traditional Italian risotto. Serve it with a slab of feta, a wedge of zesty lemon, an extra drizzle of olive oil and plenty of crusty bread.

→ MAKE ME

---

The carbon footprint of an email depends what device you use to open it, but sending you this one used about 3.5g of carbon.

If you liked the above, do kindly leave a ❤️ . It will help circulate it more widely. You could even share it with anyone you think might like it. Thank you!