Kids like straws, and it is actually good for their oral motor development and speech articulation to use them.  As a green parent, I hate plastic straws.

They can’t be recycled, they are used one time, and they are a waste of resources.  I have purchased the thicker plastic kind before and attempted to wash them, but it is impossible to get them entirely clean.  I can only imagine what germs you would see if you cut one open and put it under a microscope!  Plastic straws can’t go in the dishwasher, or they melt or release toxic chemicals, and who knows about BPA in straws?  I have finely found the eco-alternative to the plastic straw:   GLASS!

Glass Dharma’s David Leonhardt’s mission is to “Save the Planet – 1 straw at a time”.

Here are five reasons why you should switch from plastic straws to glass ones:

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The makers of babylife wee*go bottles must have had this in mind when they developed their product.  Their glass bottles are protected by a colorful silicone sleeve that can be boiled or put into the dishwasher along with the bottle itself.  The nipple that is included with the bottle is latex-free, and the recyclable plug and cap contain absolutely no polycarbonate.

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So, what’s your favorite green cleaning recipe?  The Clean Calgary Association’s Green Cleaning Guide For Businesses and Individuals by Lindsay Luhnau serves up green cleaning recipes galore.

First, it lists key DIY green cleaner ingredients: white vinegar, washing soda, castile soap, baking soda, Borax, olive oil, water, lemon juice and elbow grease.  Here are a few of the guide’s green cleaner recipes:

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I wanted to approach the idea from two points. First, I am in the promotional items business. For our industry the main purpose of gift giving is to say thank you to the clients you have done business with in the past year, and to keep your name in front of those clients so that they do business with you next year.

Second, as an Econpreneurist gift giving gives my business a chance to show off our green credentials but also - maybe - influence our clients, not all of whom are green, about becoming more green in their own businesses.

So I decided to start off with something very basic. Mugs.

A basic mug cost little and can normally be printed on both the front and back, so there is a lot of room for both your logo and a message.

Perhaps “Thank you for your business in 2008. Think of XYZ company in 2009 for all your ABC needs” on the front and maybe an eco message like “Americans throw away an estimated 25 billion Styrofoam cups every year. The same Styrofoam cups will be sitting in a landfill 500 years from now. Please re-use this mug each day to lessen your impact on the planet.”  Yes that will all fit on a mug.  And trust me a case of mugs showing up at your client’s office goes a lot farther than a fruit basket.

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My friends, this is no lie!  The good people at Bedrock have tumbled glass for all kinds of crafty and gardeny adventures.

I love the colors available in their mosaic glass, and mosaic is a craft I’ve always wanted to try.  Their glass is 100% pre-consumer recycled glass, taken from the waste generated during the production of stained glass.

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Out of all the items found in my recycle bin, glass bottles are the ones that puzzle me the most. I know that we can make plastic beer rings into beautiful silver necklaces and the bottle caps into pendants and pincushions but what about the bottle itself?

Glass is one of those crafts that is very elusive to me. First there is the process of creating it which involves very high temperatures, taking hot molten glass and using tools that, by necessity, keep you at a far distance. Second, there is a certain aesthetic that glass caries that just isn’t my cup of tea.

I am definitely intrigued by the process of glass making and have spent much time interrogating friends that have taken glass blowing workshops. I am oddly fascinated by it, even if I’m not attracted to it aesthetically. Juliet got me thinking with John Bassett’s glass sculptures but I wanted more. That is why I was pleased as punch to come across a group of Etsy sellers that recycle empty glass bottles and turn them into a variety of wonderful and quirky objects.

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Gail Gibbons is well known for her children’s non-fiction books. From Weather Forecasting to Chicks & Chickens, the text and illustrations are loaded with detailed information. Recycle! is no exception. The book begins by talking about the problem of garbage and how to dispose of it. Recycling is presented as a solution that can “cut down the amount of trash we make.” From a simple explanation of recycling, Gail breaks down the specifics of recycling paper, glass, cans, plastic, and polystyrene. She explains how each is made, recycled, and reused.

It takes lime, soda ash, and sand, called silica, to make glass. These three elements are mixed together and heated at a very high temperature to make a glassy liquid. Measured amounts, sometimes dyed, are dropped into forming machines, where the liquid hardens to make bottles and jars. Many products come in glass bottles or jars. Sometimes, when they are through being used, they are just thrown away. It would take thousands of years for them to biodegrade at a landfill. Instead, these bottles and jars could be reused. RECYCLE!

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Couronne Co make glass bottles, vases, jars, bowls and candle holders from recycled glass. I was sent some fantastic products, a gerbera bud vase, a blue glass ball vase and a diamond red bottle.

Their website explains that Couronne prides itself on a vast selection of glassware and home décor products that are both eco-friendly and affordable. They recognize the importance of recycling glass, because it not only conserves the environment but it also saves energy. The process required to produce glass is quite simple as it is composed of sand, soda, lime and a lot of heat. The obvious benefits of recycling glass is to reuse and save our natural resources, but the most important benefit of recycled glass is that it requires considerably less energy than that which is needed to melt raw materials.

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John Bassett has been making these amazing glass panels and sculptures since 1979, long before green crafting was all the rage. John creates his works of art out of used bottles, chandelier parts, and other glass scraps. John says that his interests are in light, structure, line, texture, balance and color in that order.

I know most of us do not have the means to whip up art with our empty beer bottles, but I just had to share the wonderful way one artist has. So, I guess until I build a glass studio in my house, I will just put my bottles on the curb for recycling.

For more about glass recycling, check out glass recycling facts from A Recyling Revolution.

Victoria E: What first drew your interest in artistic glass work?

Sol Mesz: Actually it all started with welding. While I was still in Buenos Aires, one day, out of nowhere, I decided I wanted to weld. In asking around, I was given the name of a renowned glass artist (Carlos Herzberg ) that happened to do welding for the structure of his glass sculptures. So I went to see him with the sole purpose of learning how to weld. During my first year with him, I concentrated mostly in metal objects and paid little attention to glass: I built a small table, a CD rack, a chandelier and a lamp. However, my teacher, being a glass artist, encouraged me to include glass into my designs. Slowly but surely, I started making the transition to glass.

Up until recently, I did mostly functional objects (jewelry, sushi sets, plates, candle ware, etc.). I guess this is partly because I have always worked as a product manager (for internet products, though), and partly because of my practical nature (I don’t like decorative objects that have no other function than to gather dust…). Only after taking art classes two years ago and being around artists, I started getting ideas for decorative pieces. So to my functional pieces I have now added a decorative line of work, which was very well received at my last solo show.

But even with my decorative pieces I always try to build some interactivity. In most of them, the design can be re-configured by the “user”. For instance: in the layers series, the panels can be and rotated, and the stacking order of the glass panels can be altered as well. Most artists want their pieces to express their own vision. However, I like the interaction with the customer (in fact, I love doing custom work) and letting them participate in the design process, if only by letting them alter an already made piece. Far from feeling that my vision is altered, I enjoy seeing the public engaged with my work.

My glass “education” includes training by renowned Argentine glass and vitraux artist Carlos Herzberg in different glass working techniques, including pâte de verre, vitraux, slumped and fused glass, mold making, sand casting and color making (this is a rare technique). I took ceramic classes to gain a deeper understanding of the chemical processes that occur with the substances I use to make colors. I took alampworking glass to expand the range of my glass working techniques. I also took a silversmithing class, in order to combine glass and silver.

VE: Upon starting your company Sillice, did you begin with the intention of operating as a sustainable business, using recycled glass? Why or why not?

SM: This is an interesting question. When I was looking for suppliers, I went to a local glass shop. When I explained to the owner what I wanted and what I was going to use it for, he asked if I could re-use window glass. His business was to supply his clients with new glass and whenever he replaced a window, he would take the old one with him as a courtesy, so he had a lot of second-hand glass that, if he did not give to me, would go straight to the dumpster.

I knew that glass does not lose quality when reprocessed and can be re-used over and over, so I took a sample and made some test pieces. Since that worked well, I started using him (and later other contractors in the area) to source my glass. Eventually, people in the community knew that I was working with recycled glass, so they started calling me to see if I could use their discarded glass.

Another interesting thing is that I used to sell my work in an upscale community, and I feared that if I said that my work was made with recycled glass it would diminish the value of my pieces to them. So for the longest time I did not mention the recycled nature of my pieces.

Eventually, I started feeling more comfortable, and talked more about the recycling. To my surprise, this brought a lot of attention to my work, to the extent of having a county/state agency contact me to see if I was interested in developing my work at a larger scale. This was partly because window glass is the only type of glass that does NOT get recycled, so it was a very interesting enterprise for them (more details about why window glass is not recycled in the attachment I sent you last time).

They also put me in touch with a non-profit in northern California that was at the time organizing a competition for artists and small businesses that used recycled glass as part of their materials. This competition was sponsored by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the DOC (Department of Conservation) and I won an honorable mention. As a side comment, one of the more important prices went to an artist that made a real-life size torso sculpture with “one-buck-chuck” bottles. The sculpture was called “one-buck-chick”.

Another example of the attention that got the recycled nature of my work was the City of Palm Desert selecting my sculpture proposal as part of their public art program. Because they had just built a new Visitor Center facility, which was a green building (the first in the Coachella Valley), they felt that my sculpture “represented the spirit of the building” and placed it right at the entrance of the Visitor Center. This sculpture was made not only with recycled glass (donated by WM), but also with recycled metal from a rocket factory. You can view pictures of the sculpture here.

Also, I got a lot of media attention, in particular the green media: TreeHugger and other green blogs, Body+Soul (a Martha Stewart magazine), Viva (a lifestyle, green magazine from Canada), etc.

Now that I have found my niche, I do make a conscious effort to use recycled or natural materials whenever possible (like the raw materials I use to make my colors), in order to be consistent with my and my clients philosophy and lifestyle.

VE: Of the wide variety of items featured in your online store, which are your favorite to make?

SM: I have a few favorites, and each one is so for different reasons.

The jewelry line I like because it gives me a lot of creative room. You have to pack a lot of creativity in a space no bigger than 2×2. So I play with different creative resources like colors, textures. And then, once the design is chosen, I need to play with variations of the design.

The games are one of the favorites because I love to play and I love the elegance and yet functionality of the “hand-made games”. They can also be a creative challenge, because you have to adapt the original parts of the game to a design that I can recreate with my fused glass techniques. It is not just about recreating the game, but recreating it in an original and creative way. I have been working for some time now on an idea for a chess game which I will soon release.

Another thing that I like a lot is doing custom work. Unlike most artists, I like the interaction with the customer and the “creative energy” that is generated with the interchange of ideas. People like a lot being able to participate in the design process of the piece. It makes the piece more significant to them and it creates a connection between the customer and the piece that goes beyond simple ownership. An anecdote related to this is about a necklace that a customer wanted to have in a particular color combination. When she came to the studio to pick the colors, she was asking questions about the production process. So, I asked her if she could stay for an hour and gave her a pair of protective gloves and eye protection, taught her how to cut and paint the glass, and within an hour she had actually created the piece herself, making the piece she was commissioning for her friend even more meaningful. I then fired, finished and assembled the piece for her.

VE: Do you find that custom work for individual customers is a large part of your business?

SM: Not currently, but I am getting more and more custom requests. I am actually partially redesigning my current website to give more customization options. As I mentioned, people that buy hand made are people that are already looking for something “out the ordinary” and something special to them. Also, they also “buy” the relationship with the artist, knowing who made the item and how. So because of this, a natural next step is the custom work.

VE: As an eco business owner and operator, how do you balance your goals of helping to change/save the world and making a profit.

SM: Those two goals do not necessarily have to be conflicting. Not in my case, at least. The more I sell (in terms of product, not necessarily money), the more I contribute to the environment because I recycle more glass.

VE: Do you have any upcoming events or exhibitions?

SM: No, not upcoming. I am working on the redesign of my website to offer more options, but that’s it for now. I am actually very actively looking for fellow artists that also care for the environment to do a collective show. If anyone is interested we should get together!

VE: What do you say to the folks that still believe global warming is just a myth?

SM: With all the evidence to the contrary, I think that those statements are made for political and economical reasons. I understand that changing current methods of production or supplies can be very costly. Unfortunately, that suffers from short-term vision as the changes will have to be made regardless at some point, since current due to the lack of supplies in the near future. I think that a good counter-strategy would be to show the economic benefits of going green. That is the only way to change an industry.

VE: Do you have any other nifty, secret projects in the works that you could hint at?

SM: Well… I mentioned that I made a sculpture of a Palm Tree for the City of Palm Desert. I love succulent and cactus plants because of their rich shapes and textures, so I am working on a set of smaller sculptures of cacti to go with that palm tree. It is in the early stages yet, but I am envisioning it as a “cactus garden” that is a companion to the large palm tree.