What can you do with your old newspapers? How about flip flops (or paperflops..)

Don't believe it? Check out Paperflops, flip flops that are made from entirely natural and biodegradable materials.This is not just a great idea, but also a great example of upcycling.

According to Paperflops, which is based in Indonesia, these Flip Flops are made of recycled and up-cycled newspapers. It takes approximately 1kg of old newspapers to produce a pair of PaperFlops Flip Flops. Other materials for the PaperFlop Flip Flops include root from old palm trees, coconut shells, and 100% natural rubber. The PaperFlop Flip Flops are quite durable and water proof since they are protected with a natural rubber sealant. 

Here are some more details about Paperflops from Ulule:

PaperFlops is a creative workshop that employs underprivileged people including street children and disabled people throughout Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This workshop trains and educates these people in arts and crafts to creating amazing products so they can be entirely self-sufficient.

The workshop creates various unique handmade products made from recycled and up-cycled newspapers and other natural materials. All of the materials used in our workshop are environmentally friendly and sustainable. The products produced in our workshop include flip flops, sandals, bags, pencil boxes, and more.

The PaperFlops flip flops exist in different models and of course different sizes.It seems according to Ulule, where Paperflops were looking for funding couple of months ago, that their price is between $50-$60 including shipping, but it's not really clear where and how you can order them right now. If you want a pair, you might want to email Paperflops at thepaperflops@gmail.com to get more details.

Photos credit: Ulule

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

How do we know that paper books and newspapers are losing market share to tablets?

Yesterday I read on Environmental Leader that "By 2015 paper use in North American magazines, newspapers and books is expected to fall between 12 and 20 percent from 2010 levels, as the use of tablet devices and e-readers rises, according to a report by paper industry information source RISI."

The report, "The Impact of Media Tablets on Publication Paper Markets" sounds very interesting but if you want to read it you'll need to pay $5,900. Now, if you a free of charge evidence, a bit less scientific maybe, but still very convincing that paper is loosing its hegemony to electronic formats, all you need to do is to check a new survey published by Staples.

The survey, as CNN reported, asked 200 tablet-using professionals about their preferences and habits. There were several interesting findings, but one of them sticks out:

"More than one-in-three respondents -35% - fessed up to using their iPad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy or other tablets while in the bathroom."

That's it, ladies and gentlemen. Game over. If books, newspaper and magazines lost 35% market share at the bathroom, it's just a matter of time until paper reading will lose the rest of the battle, becoming eventually only a niche market for paper lovers and those who can't still go to the bathroom without a piece of paper or a good book.

Image credit: dalboz17, Flickr Creative Commons

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

Will the Plastic Logic reader save both trees and the newspaper industry?

We already know the Amazon.com's Kindle and the Sony eReader, but how about a electronic reader with a large portable screen that is designed especially for newspapers? sounds like a futuristic dream? not any more. Please meet the Plastic Logic reader.

The New York Times reported last Sunday ("New E-Newspaper Reader Echoes Look of the Paper") on this new device, which was presented lately at the DEMO conference in San Diego by Plastic Logic and will be offered for sale in the first half of 2009.

Eric A. Taub reported in this article that "the device, which is unnamed, uses the same technology as the Sony eReader and Amazon.com’s Kindle, a highly legible black-and-white display developed by the E Ink Corporation."

Differentiated by a stunning form factor (the size of 8.5 x 11-inch paper), the Plastic Logic reader features a big readable display. Yet it’s thinner than a pad of paper, lighter than many business periodicals, and offers a high-quality reading experience. It's mainly targeted for business users, but it definitely has the potential to become the e-paper preferred device for reading newspapers.

No price is quoted yet for the Plastic Logic reader, but it's not going to be cheap. Steven Glass, head of user experience for Plastic Logic is quoted in Fortune saying "The point is to be able to deliver this at a price more in line with the current crop of e-readers like (Amazon’s) Kindle which sells for around $349.” But let's say the price will fall eventually and become reasonable. Can such a device be significantly beneficial for newspapers and no less important to the environment?

For newspapers it can be definitely the light at the end of the tunnel - many of them suffer of financial problems and look for ways to cut costs as the number of copies sold are dropping. Using Plastic Logic or iLiad can save them tons of money - according to the article, The San Francisco Chronicle, for example, print and delivery expenses amount to 65% of the paper’s fixed expenses. Just think what this kind of savings can contribute to a newspaper's P&L.

If we look at it from environmental angle, we can ask ourselves whether these newspaper e-readers are superior in comparison with the printed newspaper. We know it saves trees and transportation, but is it really better for the environment? usually with e-books the answer is that we don't know yet as no thorough life cycle analysis was made yet to compare between the options. But here somebody already did it.

Researcher Asa Moberg and her team of the Center for Sustainable Communications at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden studied the environmental effects of producing print versus electronic newspapers, both on the Internet and by using the iRex Iliad. The results were published last year and the conclusion was as follows:

"The ranking from an environmental point of view was in general the tablet e-paper and the web based newspaper with a shorter reading time (10 min), was giving rise to a lower environmental impact than than the printed version. With a reading time of 30 minutes/day the environmental impact of the web based newspaper was in general in the same range as the printed newspaper environmental impact."

The research also reports that "the production of the tablet e-paper device was the single largest part of the total environmental impact of the tablet e-paper newspaper life cycle. Editorial work, and for some impact categories also the incineration of parts of the electronic device (plastic waste) contributed to the rest of the environmental impact."

The Morgan and her team finds the e-paper device better than print and similar to reading the newspaper over the Internet. No research was made yet about Plastic Logic but following this research my guesstimation is that the results would be similar if not better for the electronic option.

Now the only question would be - will customers adopt this new device or continue with their current habits - reading it in print or over the Internet? Only time will tell but we sure hope these new technologies will help eventually both the environment and the bottom line of newspapers to get better.

More on E-paper devices:

E-books vs. paper books resource page

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Recycled Newspaper Crafts

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, today's post was originally published by Juliet Ames on Crafting Green World.


Here at Crafting in a Green World, we clearly like crafting with recycling paper! Emma's post on maps and Autumn's posts on recycling folded paper and Playing Card Bags made me want to risk the paper cuts to craft. I am discovering, through writing these blog posts, that I am pretty fascinated in paper crafts too. I have already tackled junk mail, paint chips, and old photos, but as I pack up my recycling for the week, I noticed a kind of paper then gets no love, newspaper! Sure, we have all used it to pack a box, but think of all the possibilities!

One of my favorite ideas from Emma's map post was the adorable Paper Cotton Bird. I could not resist sharing this one made out of newspaper. This Etsy seller from England pays great attention to detail as she hand stitches each bird with embroidery thread using her own pattern. They are so darn adorable, I can't stand it.

When talking about recycled newspaper crafts, I must mention Newspaper Jewelry. I had the pleasure of seeing these in person, and they really are spectacular. This stuning pendant is made up of newspaper headlines that were hand formed into beads and stitched together with Swarovski Crystal beads.