But instead of stones or concrete, Ban used a mixture of cardboard tubes, recycled labels and creative engineering.
Artek is now exploring other natural materials, like pine, and is working with UPM, the Finnish forest products company, on the development of a new wood-plastic composite material using recycled sticky labels.
Ms. Levine, who wears her gray hair in a Beatles bob and carries a handbag made of recycled juice box labels, said she was motivated partly by a resolve to confound stereotypes.
I didn't know anyone, so I went out of my comfort zone to talk to a young man named Courtney Reum, who told me that he had left a job at Goldman Sachs to start a company that makes and sells Veev — an organic, kosher, gluten-free, carbon-neutral açai liquor, bottled in recycled glass, with labels printed with soy inks.
While there are no doubt new products with organic ingredients, recycled packaging and labels touting more conscious corporate practices appearing on every shelf at the supermarket, these pale in comparison to the overwhelming deluge of decidedly unsustainable and increasingly disposable products.
They are a fairtrade fashion label using recycled materials to create beautiful unisex bag collections.
The label's recycled clothing initiative (with the fun name "Green Eileen") accepts donations of gently worn Eileen Fisher branded items at all of its retail stores.
The World Health Organisation reckons that 5-7% of pharmaceuticals worldwide may be counterfeit with too few active ingredients, too many contaminants, fake labels or recycled packaging that covers up expiry dates.
Is the item recycled or recyclable?
My idea of wrapping is sticking on a bow with a "From Santa" label, or a recycled gift bag if I am feeling nutty.
