Citizen Zero’s essential picks for responsible consumers
Bark Sweden wooden phone case
There’s real beauty in wood – each pattern, grain, and colour is testament to the life of a particular tree. Like a cherry thinned from a forest outside Stockholm, or an ash from the Småland Highlands sadly cut down due to age. Bark Sweden tells these stories, using waste or unused wood from forest management in parks and green areas to handcraft and mill these bespoke phone cases.
LesPol Coffee Cup and Saucer
Coffee grounds in landfill produce methane, which contributes to global warming. Better then they end up here, as a bioplastic cup and saucer crafted from spent coffee grounds and plant-based materials. The bioplastic can also be used for anything from baby products to automotive interiors.
Alpha Padded Crossbody Bag
Look closely at ReTribe’s crossbody bag and you may see small areas of damage, colour fading, or random seams. They are, says the small business that saves products and fabrics from landfill for reuse, the battle scars of its past life – in this case, as a surplus military sleeping bag.
Crimagno Earth
Sometimes you have to forego the prose to get straight to the point. So here goes: Crimagno’s Earth shoes have a sole made from natural rubber, hempwood, and recycled material, an upper made from PET bottles recovered from the sea, a lining made from hemp and recycled polyester, and recycled polyester zips.
The Hemlock: Wood Watch
All of The Sustainable Watch Company’s watches and watch straps are handmade from recycled natural wood furniture and discarded railway tracks. The Hemlock also runs without batteries to reduce waste. For every watch ordered, the company plants 10 trees to support reforestation.
Wishbone 3-in-1 Balance Bike
When it comes to toys, there’s two kinds of plastic: that which contributes to vast amounts of landfill each year, and Wishbone’s. The company’s recycled balance bike is made from post-consumer recycled bottles and carpet, and has a zero-waste frame and wheels for maximum recyclability.
iameco v3 desktop computer
The v3 is the result of two decades’ development work to create an ‘ecologically safe’ computer free from harmful chemicals and heavy metals. It has a carbon footprint 70% less than the average PC, uses 98% recyclable materials (by weight), and LED lighting that’s up to 40% more energy efficient.