Member Article

Bradford sustainable creative firm turns to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter

Eco-company Co2nscience, based in Bradford, re-use discarded plastic bottles and turn them into wall art, and have decided to launch their exciting ‘Stretcher Prints’ via the crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter.

Stuart Jones started the business because he wanted to find a smart way of re-using some of the millions of plastic bottles that go into landfill each year.

Their Kickstarter target is to upcycle 140,000 plastic bottles and transform them into unique wall art.

Stuart Jones, founder and MD of Co2nscience said: “We’ve launched our project exclusively on Kickstarter because we feel that what we’re trying to achieve - and the innovation that we’ve come up with - will really resonate with the switched-on Kickstarter audience.

“With their help, we can spread the word far and wide and hopefully, in the not too distant future, create such a demand for the ubiquitous empty plastic bottle that very few end up in landfill - so important as they can take 500 years to decompose!”

Each print is made of up to 22 recycled 50cl plastic bottles.

In addition, Co2nscience have teamed up with some highly talented photographers, including Derek Kind, a Canadian artist specialising in dramatic landscape photography, Mark Denton, a Yorkshire-based panoramic photographer and Joolz Dymond, the UK’s premier female cycling photographer, to provide a diverse range of style options for every environment.

Co2nscience have also been licensed by the National Archives and Transport for London, and, more recently, the Press Association, to reproduce some of their iconic and award winning images.

Stuart Jones said: “I hope that, over time, our Stretcher Prints will prove to have been instrumental in an even bigger movement towards choosing recycled materials over virgin ones; we would like to create a real demand for recycled post-consumer rPET [recycled polyester], to assist towards the fight for protecting and preserving our environment.

“We are doing our bit for the environment and are hopeful that, for the consumers of tomorrow, a moral choice will become an increasingly significant factor in their purchasing decisions; just as it is in the manufacture of all our products.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .