Upcycle edge and its various dimensions : 

Over the period, apart from the Upcycling and eco awareness among the mass, we have realized several deeper experiences with the rural and economically weaker section people. We want to bring transformation through service and humanity. We believe, nature needs our help as well as there are many needy craftsmen who have strong skills and crafting abilities creating greater value for the people around us. Ecowings is passionate to give them a wider platform through its global network.
Implementing simple concepts and ideas are making really big differences not only to save our environment but also creating greater livelihood for needy people. Upcycling is such a unique process which involves lot of creativity and crafting skills. We always try to blend technology, Usability, Aesthetics and functional design with creativity to come up new sustainable innovations.

Upcycling in Indian Scenario : 

In India the concept of Up-cycling is still far behind, it has greater level of potential to tap the market and can open new product design interventions. As per our point of view so far Upcycling is more like a craft skills and needs to be understood with different perspectives. When the "Design" term is involved in up-cycling then we are talking something serious and it has deeper significance to meet the user needs and current fashions. In India there are few brands who are offering Upcycled Products but the current product range is having more craft and individual hobby fragrances. So far many initiatives were taken but only few Upcycled brands could sustain because of lack of branding and lack of understanding, lesser involvement in design and styling.


At Ecowings every day goes for new discoveries and searching for new materials, concepts, ideas mock ups etc. We try to stretch ourselves from our shelves and get the real experiences for the innovative outcomes.

Upcycling Opportunities :
1. Increasing number of mobile devices and their consumption creating question mark for the future and causing pollution across the mass. This is is the area where several potential opportunities can be identified to come up new life style products.


2. Huge amount of Electrical industrial waste is coming out. We need to open ourselves and look at the potential opportunities.


3. Upcycling for the Wild Life Protection : How upcycling could be a powerful tool to save wild life. It can accelerate the young creative potential and connect them to nature and its significance.


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The list goes on !!


Cheers.


Have a rocking time.


Kapil Sharma
Founder

Ecowings 

green impact through innovation

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visit our website :

Ecowings India   www.ecowings.in

Ecowings The Netherlands : www.ecowings.nl 

(M) +91 9752 522 666

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* Ecowings Products are approved by PETA (People for  the ethical treatment of Animal) under Vegan Category 

* Ecowings Products are approved by Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles under Handicraft section

Lenses from Holland at Ecowings India !

We all had a great time with four Dutch young enthusiastic people from Holland during their India Trip. Specially Joost and Bernhard who were together with me for four days while preparing short film for Ecowings and discussed several things about life, education, culture, sustainability, communication and many more subjects. It was a wonderful experience while working on the Ecowings short film in Indore in which many complexities and talents were involved together. I wish each and every single day should be this much productive with full acceleration and ideas. If we walk on the path with clear directions then it becomes much more easier to reach and journey becomes more faster as you imagine.

It was an honor for us as this time Holland's Prime Minister Mr. Mark Rutte recently visited India to meet our Honorable Prime Minister Shree Narendar Modi to build positive and mutual grounds for both the countries. I must share the statement given by Netherland's PM Mark Rutte - "At this moment, we have 180-200 Dutch companies operating in India and over 60 branches of Indian companies in the Netherlands," No doubt, It is his great step is to create a bridge for future developments and growth which may bring prosperity and open new opportunities for both the countries. Keeping the same mindset and vision we are continuously putting our efforts through our mutual collaborations as we already have established with Angela Rooijmans in Holland and intend to broaden our horizons to spread our sustainable ideas and innovations for the benefits of environment and green future.

We have several resources available and we just need to combined them together with greater level of clarity and creativity with further national and international collaborations to open new channels. Right from the childhood, Indians are taught as they have to compete within the community in which they restrict themselves, but from my point of view we should connect ourselves with this planet and seek out greater opportunities to work together where cross culture activities and positive actions can be involved to achieve the set targets, higher purpose and goals which will not only enrich our skills and individual weaker section people but also for strengthen our nation as well. Through this way we could be more responsible for what we are doing here and can create wider platforms for the skilled people.

While interacting with Bernahard V and Joost D many discussion happened and I realized the gaps in our education system needs to be filled with innovative approaches. We wish if we could create a platform in future for Eco Conscious Education.

My sincere Thanks to Angela Rooijmans and the entire team from Holland.

Cheers.

Kapil Sharma
Principal Designer | Founder
Ecowings India

Hi Folks !! 

Get you free Pango Pouch with selected Ecowings Vegan Leather Bags !! 

Shop directly from Flipkart .......

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Health Impacts of Burning Tires in Cement Kilns :

Ten years ago, Holcim applied to burn hazardous wastes at its cement plant near Headwaters State Park north of Three Forks. After years of public outcry, the application was withdrawn. Now Holcim is planning to seek a permit to burn scrap tires. Cement kilns are designed to make cement, not to be efficient waste incinerators. Burning scrap tires in cement kilns releases benzene and heavy metals and produces dioxins. These toxins are associated with a wide range of serious health problems including reproductive impairment, developmental delay and cancer. Burning tires also presents the potential for loss of productivity and reduced marketability of agricultural products in areas impacted by waste burning facilities. Until health studies are done on populations - of plants, wildlife, livestock, humans - impacted by waste burning cement kilns, the process can not be considered safe.

Image source from : http://atlasbear.wordpress.com/

                                          

What makes up a tire?

Tires are composed of natural rubber from rubber trees, synthetic rubber made from petrochemical feedstocks, carbon black, extender oils, steel wire, up to 17 heavy metals, other petrochemicals and chlorine.

• Synthetic rubber often contains the organic chemicals styrene and butadiene. Styrene, a benzene derivative, is a suspected human carcinogen.
• Butadiene is known to cause cancer in laboratory animals and is a suspected human carcinogen. Studies show a strong association between leukemia and butadiene.
• Extender oils contain benzene based compounds which cause cancer in laboratory animals. Crude oil contains heavy metals, including, but not limited to, lead, chromium, cadmium, and mercury.
• A coal and tire chlorine content comparison showed that tires may contain as much as 2 to 5 times the chlorine level of western coal. The coal averaged a chlorine weight of .04% and tires showed a weight range of .07 to .2 percent. (CIWMBA, pg. 69).

Combustion Issues

Waste incinerators designed for that purpose are required to have afterburners or secondary combustion chambers to achieve the highest possible combustion efficiency. Cement kilns lack secondary chambers to assure complete destruction of wastes. "Upset" events, when a malfunction occurs in the cement making process, that result in uncontrolled emissions and possible large releases of particulate matter, are common.

Inadequate combustion can result in these chemicals being released into the air and lead to the creation of toxic byproducts. Byproducts of the incomplete combustion of benzene based compounds include dioxins, furans, PAH's (polyaromatic hydrocarbons), and PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyls), all recognized by health officials as causing cancer or reproductive toxicity. Incineration of chlorine and chlorinated compounds creates dioxins. Metals are not destroyed at any temperature, 100% are released into the air or concentrated into the cement product or the waste material of the process.

Dioxins

The term "dioxin" refers to a group of persistent, very toxic chemicals including dioxins, furans and some PCB's. Dioxin is a byproduct of industrial processes using chlorine. Recent EPA data ranks municipal waste incinerators, hazardous waste burning cement kilns, and medical waste incinerators as the leading sources of dioxin.

Dioxin released into the air can travel long distances in the atmosphere before settling onto soil, water and plants. It enters crops via the soil, from particles deposited on leaves, and by absorption of dioxin vapors from the air into the plant. Dioxin doesn't break down readily, but accumulates in the fatty tissues of animals consuming those plants, and concentrates in meat, eggs, and dairy products and consequently in humans. These toxins also biomagnify, which means that as dioxins move up the food chain, their concentrations are repeatedly multiplied. A study of biomagnification of low levels of dioxin from soil and feed into chickens showed levels of dioxins found in eggs and chickens tissues that were 10 to 200 fold greater than the soil concentrations. (Petras)
The EPA's 1994 Draft Reassessment of Dioxin concluded that there is no safe level of exposure to dioxin; even at extremely low levels a wide range of serious health effects are possible, including reproductive impairment, developmental injuries, and increased risk of diabetes.

Heavy Metals

Metals do not break down in the environment so they build steadily increasing concentrations in soil.

Metals taken up from the soil or deposited on plants from the air can contaminate crops. When cadmium levels in soil were increased by 50 parts per million, wheat yields declined 25%, with greater productivity damage as the cadmium levels increased. (Page) Metals bioaccumulate, moving from the environment into tissues of living beings where they build up over time. Low levels of lead can cause mental retardation, learning disabilities and stunted growth in children.

Conclusion

"...promoting burning waste tires in cement kilns cannot be supported by scientific evidence that it is safe to do so. It is likely that an increase in the use of waste tires as fuel will be damaging to the public's health and well being." *

Sources:

CIWMB, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Tires as a Fuel Supplement: Feasibility Study. Sacramento, CA, 1992.
Page, A. et al. "Other Trace Metals" Impact of Heavy Metal Pollution on Plants. Volume 1:Effects of Trace Metals on Plant Function. N.Lepp, ed. London:Applied Science Publishers. 1980.
Petras,M.,et al. "Biotransfer and bioaccumulation of PCDD/PCDFs from soil; controlled exposure studies of chickens." Chemosphere 23:1731-1741. 1991.
*Dr. Seymour I. Schwartz, Professor, Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, in a letter to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, 1/21/1998

Article source from : http://www.notoxicburning.org/health.html 

Ecowings footprints in International Green Festival, organized by Karma Konsum, Germany :

Hi Folks !!

The two day Karma Konsum Green Festival was a great hit and Ecowings inspired thousands of people to adopt green living and sustainable life style. During the exhibition Ecowings exhibited its eleven products including, Mac Book Cases, I-pad Cases, Laptop/Messenger Bags, Wallets, Convertible Pouches and many others. Ecowings also informed people about the Upcycling and recycling process and shared the current global climatic changes and the harms of burning tires. At the same people showed a great amount of enthusiasm and inclination towards the Upcycled products and did several interactions to understand the environmental problems. Ecowings also interacted with many other environment passionate people and talked about the possible future sustainable collaborations to make greater difference.

During the exhibition the brand lovers also expressed their emotions and views about the Ecowings and its product range. Ecowings also got influenced from Christoph Harrach, Founder of Karma Konsum and discussed about the global trends and current needs in Europe of sustainable products.

Probably in future Ecowings new product range will be more user oriented and focused to a specific target group to satisfy the global needs and design interventions will be based on more trend forecasting and current scenarios.

Happy green living !!

Ecowings Design Team :)  

Burning tire tube is posing high level risk for environment  and wild life: (case study)  

A boy carries a freshly killed goat through the smoke and haze of burning tires © Ed Kashi/VII Photo.

Introduction : 

Research worldwide indicates that tire burning kilns have a serious detrimental impact on community health and the integrity of the surrounding environment. Kiln emissions have been found to cause cancer and respiratory illness. Environmental degradation ranges from physical alteration to heavy metal,mercury, and chemical contamination. Chemicals from the air and ground water entering the river, can accumulate to toxic quantities in wildlife and degrade the river ecosystem. As the river becomes polluted the entire ecosystem is at risk: human health is compromised, wildlife is threatened and the environment is in peril. 

Impact : 

The study shows that emissions from the burning of tires are a serious threat to human health. Specifically, emissions from burning tires are highly mutagenic (more mutagenic than emissions from the burning of all other bulk materials that researchers have tested). Emissions from burning tires contains significant amounts of the following known human carcinogens: benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and benz[a]pyrene. What follows are quotes from the study:

"Two to three billion scrap tires are in landfills and stockpiles across the United States, and approximately one scrap tire per person is generated every year. Scrap tires represent both a disposal problem and a resource opportunity (e.g., as a fuel and in other applications). Of the many potential negative environmental and health impacts normally associated with scrap tire piles, the present study focuses on (1) examining air emissions related to open tire fires and their potential health impacts, and (2) reporting on emissions data from well designed combustors that have used tires as a fuel.

"Air emissions from open tire fires have been shown to be more toxic (e.g., mutagenic) than those of a combustor, regardless of the fuel. Open tire fire emissions include "criteria" pollutants, such as particulates, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur oxides (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). They also include "non-criteria" hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, furans, hydrogen chloride, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); and metals such as arsenic, cadmium, nickel, zinc, mercury, chromium, and vanadium. Both criteria and HAP emissions from an open tire fire can represent significant acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) health hazards to firefighters and nearby residents. 

Depending on the length and degree of exposure, these health effects could include irritation of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes, respiratory effects, central nervous system depression, and cancer. Firefighters and others working near a large tire fire should be equipped with respirators and dermal protection. Unprotected exposure to the visible smoke plume should be avoided.

.
Open tire fire emissions are estimated to be 16 times more mutagenic than residential wood combustion in a fireplace, and 13,000 times more mutagenic than coal-fired utility emissions with good combustion efficiency and add-on controls. reference : http://www.elaw.org/node/276

15 Reasons NOT to Burn Tires:

1 The International Paper Plant at Ticonderoga lacks the basic pollution control device, an electrostatic precipitator, needed to minimize the risk from pollutants released from burning tires. Saving money on fuel by burning tires should not take precedence over public health. Industries have the responsibility to be good corporate neighbors.

2 Burning tires releases a toxic soup of pollutants. Children are especially at risk. Hundreds of different toxic pollutants are created by burning tires as well as a tremendous number of small particles that settle deep in the lungs.

3 Breast milk contaminated by the organic pollutants on the particles released from burning tires will be transferred from a nursing mother to her baby.

4 Children, fetuses, nursing babies, elderly, asthmatics, immune suppressed individuals are all much more vulnerable to the pollutants released burning tires. Small particulates released by burning tires worsen asthma and may contribute to heart disease.

5 Shouldn’t we intervene to protect children before the toxic damage done? Time after time we have learned too late.

6 Fine particles have been found to cause excess mortality and hospitalizations for heart disease and cancer by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health.

7 International Paper Ticonderoga’s plant has out-dated pollution control equipment that will not capture the fine particles emitted from burning tires. IP’s own application for a permit to burn tires estimates only 76% of the particles will be captured.

8 IP’s type of wet scrubber has been found to be inadequate by the EPA for capturing the emissions released from burning tires. The EPA recommends that an electrostatic precipitator be used instead.

9 International Paper Company has a poor record of disclosing information and compliance with environmental regulations, including dumping toxic sludge and dioxins into Lake Champlain.Find out more about the IP Environmental Record.

10 International Paper Company’s application to the NYDEC for a permit to conduct a test burn of tires at the Ticonderoga plant states that burning tires will increase emissions of toxic metals from the plant including: chromium, arsenic, zinc, barium, cobalt, copper, iron, aluminum, manganese and vanadium.

11 Current air pollution exposure standards are based on healthy adults and do not take infants, nursing mothers, and the elderly into consideration.

12 Not all pollutants released during the tire burn will be monitored. The EPA monitors only a few criteria air pollutants which may not be representative of all pollutants released. Many unknown pollutants with unknown health effects will be released from burning tires.

13 Tires are not designed to be burned as a fuel and contain hazardous ingredients (the rubber in tires contains 25% extender oils derived from benzene, 25% styrene, a derivative of benzene, and 25% 1,3 butadiene. - both benzene and 1,3 butadiene are suspected human carcinogens). Tire-derived fuel (TDF) also contains remnants of wire that is difficult to totally remove when tires are processed for fuel.

14 Fine particulates are significantly more hazardous to human health than larger particulates. Toxins collected on the surface of fine particulates are aspirated by humans and lead to lung disease. The pollution control device on the IP power boiler is insufficient to remove fine particulate matter and heavy metals from flue gases.

15 If tires are burned, the IP plant will release high levels of small particles containing zinc oxide. Inhaling small particles containing zinc produces inflammation in the lungs. Lung damage has been documented in animal studies at levels lower than OSHA and EPA standards. Asthmatics would be at particular risk from zinc exposure. There is also evidence of fetal damage from zinc exposure reference : http://www.lesspollution.org/learn.html

Here are couple of ecowings solutions : 

After going through the extensive research in various dimension, ecowings team has developed several ideas and executed them in a finished product for life style purpose. Ecowings strongly believes, these meaningful innovation can bring positive difference in environment and help to save our planet from environmental disasters. 
We advise to all the people to adopt upcycled products and green living to cast green impact and contribute to save our planet. 

Happy Green Living :) 

I-slim Pouch : Made out of recycled tire tube

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Black buck : Men's wallet made out of recycled tire tube

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Rocklane Bag : Made out of recycled tire tube

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Note : The above data has been collected from different web resources. Ecowings has the rights on the above mentioned products only as these are designed and manufactured by the ecowings design division. We appreciate to provide this meaning full information openly to educate people across the world, if any issue is there then please inform to eocwings with prior notice. 

Hey Guys !!

Ecowings glad to share "Insol" up-cycled electrical insulator lamp : A unique product to uplift the green living

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=608539689170000&set=a.560940693929900.1073741825.549160331774603&type=1&theater

Have great day ahead !!

Ecowings team :)