OUr materials
Did you know that every year we dump a massive 2.12 billion tonnes of waste? If all of this waste was put on trucks they would go around the world 24 times. This is because 99% of the things we buy are thrown away within 6 months.
Through creativity and innovation, we give incredible materials a second chance whilst having fraction of the carbon emissions. Bags made from tannery off-cut leather, discarded clothes, single-use plastic bottles… and even apple skins. Read more about their stories below.
THE ANNUAL GLOBAL EMISSIONS FROM LEATHER PRODUCTION ARE EQUAL TO THAT OF 30 MILLION CARS
70 PERCENT OF RAINFOREST HAS BEEN CLEARED TO MAKE WAY FOR GROWING FEED CROPS FOR
THE LEATHER INDUSTRY
THE PROCESS
Virgin leather has an extremely negative environmental impact. This is linked to deforestation, excessive water usage, waterway pollution and huge CO2 emissions that are inextricably linked to global warming. Our recycled leather is produced from tannery offcuts and trimmings which are diverted from landfill and re-formed using no adhesives, only high pressure water jets. Here at BEEN London we use recycled leather as part of our continued journey to divert waste from landfill.
products made using recycled leather
More than 90% of the rubbish in the sea is plastic with the main culprits being nylon fishing nets
Approximately 400,000 tonnes of carpets discarded in the uk alone annually
the process
Our partners at ECONYL® rescue nylon nets from the sea and carpets from going to waste. They sort, clean and purify nylon. A polymer is then added to this material and it is woven into textiles. This regenerated nylon is used at BEEN London to help support marine life and clean up our oceans.
It takes 10,000-20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of
virgin cotton
13 Million tonnes
of textile waste is produced each year
the process
Cotton is the world’s largest non-food crop. It demands large amounts of water, is heavily reliant on pesticides and can often be thought to have questionable practices in terms of labour. To make our recycled cotton, discarded clothes are sorted by colour and mechanically shredded. These are then spun into yarns and re-woven. We use recycled cotton as a lining across our entire range at BEEN London to give discarded clothes another chance!
products made using recycled cotton
pineapple farming produces 13 tonnes of pineapple leaf waste each year globally
By using discarded pineapple leaves as a base material for piñatex, 264 tonnes of CO2 is saved from entering the atmosphere
the process
Our partners at Ananas Anam collect pineapple leaves, an agricultural waste product of the pineapple harvest. Fibres are then extracted, cleaned and purified. This is then mixed with a corn-based polylactic acid and goes through a mechanical process to create a non-woven mesh, the base for a PETA-certified, vegan leather alternative.
500 BILLION PLASTIC BOTTLES ARE USED EACH YEAR
For every tonne of plastic recycled, 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space is saved
The process
Our partners at YKK, created NATULON® eco-friendly zips from single use plastic bottles. Post-consumer PET goes through the steps of chemical recycling (granulation, purification, and polymerisation) to create a recycled polyester yarn. We use these zips with recycled polyester tape across all our products.
products made using recycled polyester
25 percent of the byproduct from apple production are discarded
An estimated 3.7 trillion apples are thrown away each year for imperfections
the process
FRUMAT apple skin leather, born as a solution to apple juice production waste in Northern Italy, is an innovative vegan 'leather'. It is formed from the unwanted peel and core of apples which are dried and ground into a powder. The power is then mixed with a binder and pigment to be spread onto a canvas until it turns into a leather-like material.
350 tonnes of clothing waste goes to landfill each year
90% of corporate uniforms in the UK are sent to landfill each year
the process
Used corporate uniforms are collected from KLM airlines and IKEA in the Netherlands. These uniforms are shredded until they became a fine fibre. They are then mixed with recycled PET from plastic bottles and needled onto a polyester core. This beautiful recycled felt is then used at BEEN London as a protective layer in the Dalston Laptop Case and as a structural element of the Islington Backpack.
