Designer Gia Giasullo has pushed the envelope of ecofriendly correspondence from recycled paper to reused paper. Her new Used Blues stationery has the artsy feel of old architectural plans – because that’s exactly what it’s made from.
The Oakland, California, designer found her blueprints on CalMAX, a Web listing of, well, garbage. The eBay-like catalog of industrial junk — maintained by the state agency charged with reducing the amount of waste that reaches California’s landfills — lists only dump-bound items in the hope that one person’s trash will truly become another’s treasure.
Blueprints, owing to their high ammonia content, can’t be recycled in bulk, so architects usually put them out with the garbage. Giasullo saves blueprints from ending up in the dump by salvaging, cutting, and elegantly repackaging them as stationery that can then be recycled when mixed in with regular paper.
Anyone inspired by Giasullo’s creative reuse can check out CalMAX’s trashy website. Recent listings include: 400 pounds of shrink-wrap, 75,000 “non-sterile” syringes, and used airplane-seat covers.