Although garbage seems to be a worldwide problem, it’s cities like St. Petersburg in Russia that have it worse than other areas. Fortunately for locals, a Russian fashion brand called 99Recycle is working hard to turn the city’s huge piles of garbage into chic and trendy bags and other accessories.

A Successful Recycling Project From Russia

99Recycle is an up-and-coming Russian company whose goal is to collect all kinds of recyclable materials from St. Petersburg’s garbage and transform it into bespoke fashion accessories and school products. The brand recently won Recycle/Upcycle Project of the Year (2020) and is now proudly creating a number of items, including backpacks, bags, laptop cases, and even skateboards and bicycles. Companies can also order branded items from 99Recycle.

Sustainability in Fashion Is a Growing Concern

As the 21st-century rolls on, more and more people are beginning to look at sustainable solutions like using recycled materials for fashion items. Given that this industry is one of the main contributors to worldwide pollution, this shift to sustainable fashion is crucially important. To create its beautiful bags and backpacks, 99Recycle uses a large 3D printer (based on a Hyundai design) that utilizes recycled plastic as a raw material.

So far, the team has collected more than 70 tons of plastic by collaborating with local nonprofits dedicated to recycling different types of materials. One of their projects was led by head designer Olga Glagoleva (pictured above), where the team created a line of hoodies, shirts, and fashion accessories using leftover materials from dairy packaging.

Russia’s Garbage Problem

The reason 99Recycle’s efforts are especially important in Russia is the fact that the country’s landfills are much larger and more poorly managed compared to other European cities. Russia’s throw-away culture continues to contribute to the problem, but 99Recycle is doing its best to educate people through lectures and classes on sustainability and recycling options.

Ford recently announced a groundbreaking multi-billion dollar investment to build two new manufacturing plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. The total amount of the investment is $11.4 billion. According to the plan of the company, the two factories will manufacture the upcoming EV F-series pickup trucks and their batteries.

The Target

Ford’s $7 billion investment is already the largest ever manufacturing investment at one time by any automotive company in US history. The full investment supports the visionary company’s longer-term goal of creating a sustainable manufacturing ecosystem in America by next 2025. Backed by the Paris Climate Agreement approved science-based targets are in line, accelerating the manufacturing progress towards achieving much-needed carbon neutrality. Based on this goal, Ford confidently expects to transform 40%-50% of its global vehicle volume into fully electronic by next 2030.

The Vision

The Tennessee factory is going to be the largest ever manufacturing facility of Ford. It will also be the first new American vehicle assembly plant of the company in decades, after its iconic River Rouge EV Complex in Dearborn, Michigan. Together, the two factories will create over 11,000 job opportunities. According to Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford, this important investment is a transformative moment in the history of Ford, enabling the company to lead America’s transition to a new prosperous era of environment-friendly electronic vehicles with sustainable carbon-neutral manufacturing.

The Ford Blue Oval City

The Tennessee facility will be officially dubbed as the Ford Blue Oval City, bringing the futuristic vision of the electric vehicle manufacturing ecosystem into reality. Through this manufacturing pad, the company is set to reimagine the entire designing, developing, and recycling process of electric vehicles and their batteries. Planned to be built as a bigger assembly plant with smaller environmental impact, the 3600 acres sprawling campus of the Blue Oval City will cover nearly 6 square miles. The facility will encompass battery production, vehicle assembly, and a supplier park cohered in a vertically integrated system, minimizing the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process in a cost-efficient way.