Your old plastic bottle … reborn as a towel, bag or swimsuit

First, it was “bags for life”, chunky doormats and, more recently, clothing such as fleeces, swimwear, and pack-away macs. Now towels made from recycled plastic bottles are to go on sale in the UK for the first time in August – the latest initiative in the war against single-use plastics and the result of a technological breakthrough that has produced a fabric deemed soft and fluffy enough to use on human skin.

The new range of eco-friendly bath towels will go on sale online and at 18 branches of John Lewis in the last week of August, after nearly two years of extensive testing and work with suppliers. The polyester from the recycled plastic bottles accounts for 35% of their content, while the rest is regenerated cotton.

The bath towel is made from about 10 one-liter plastic bottles, and John Lewis says that the use of recycled rather than virgin cotton will save about five tonnes of fabric from going to landfill each year.

“It took 18 months to develop these towels with our supplier,” said Zoe Brady, John Lewis’s towel buyer. “Initially, it was hard to create the soft, luxurious feeling we wanted from recycled materials but we got there in the end. The recycled polyester makes these towels quick-drying, and the cotton means they’re highly absorbent, too.”

‘Skip Ahoy’ at Salthill Raft Race 2018

Well done to our team at the first Salthill Raft Race in aid of RNLI. ‘Skip Ahoy’ did us proud!

Eimhin Killilea & Sean Deveney were in charge of the build (which kept the sea out perfectly!) and Eimhin was joined by Louise Niemann, David O’Hanlon & Ray McDonnell as crew.

Despite being pipped for third place, ‘Skip Ahoy’ performed well for its first outing. Here’s to next year’s race!

365 Unpacked

Born in Lille in 1979, Antoine Repessé is a self-taught photographer. While working initially in public institutions, in 2012 he started freelancing. He joins the photo agency Lightmotiv where he produces for major press agencies including Le Monde, Elle, Marianne, L’Express, Géo, Causette. At the end of 2015 he leaves the agency to join the collective Views Co.

He embarked on personal projects around photojournalism inspired from socio-political issues. His travels from Lille to Romania, resulting in the production of “Bienvenue chez les Roms”, to India, and Mali with the NGO Acauped take him to further horizons.

His latest project, “365 Unpacked” is the result of all of the above. The questioning of a major society issue: the production of waste on a daily basis.

The City Bin Co. named EBA National Champions

The City Bin Co. has been named a National Champion for Ireland in The European Business Awards, sponsored by RSM; Europe’s largest business competition set up to celebrate business excellence and best practice in the European business community.

The Awards, now in its 10th year, is supported by business leaders, academics and political representatives from across Europe, and this year engaged with over 33,000 businesses from 34 countries. The City Bin Co. has been chosen after the first phase of judging by an independent panel. They were evaluated on the core EBA values of innovation, ethics and success and will now go through to the second stage of the competition, which includes a video and a public vote.

Gene Browne, CEO of The City Bin Co. on hearing the news, said “We’re very proud to be once again selected to represent Ireland as a National Champion. The European Business Awards is widely recognised as the showcase for Europe’s most dynamic companies and we are proud to be recognised at this level.”

Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards said: “Congratulations to The City Bin Co. who have been selected to represent their country as National Champions. They are central to the success of Europe’s strong business community, and have shown the core principles we look for of innovation, ethics and success.”

The next round requires the National Champions to make a presentation video, telling their unique story and explaining their business success. The Awards’ independent judges will award the best of this group the ‘Ruban d’Honneur’ status and the selected companies will then go on to the Gala Final in 2017.

Separately, in a two stage public vote, the videos will be hosted on the European Business Awards website, and the company who receives the most votes in their country will become the ‘National Public Champion’. Last year over 227,000 votes were cast as companies were supported globally by their clients, staff and peers, as well as the general public. Lead sponsor RSM, the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms worldwide has supported the European Business Awards since its inception.

The Awards’ core purpose is to support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe. Additional sponsors and partners of the Awards include UK Trade and Investment, ELITE and PR Newswire. In the 2015/16 competition, all EU member markets were represented plus Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Their combined revenue exceeded €1.2 trillion employing over 2.5 million people.

For further information about the winners, visit European Business Awards and RSM.