greenhavendaily.com | green living within your reach

Whatever your favorite beverage, you can find the bottle amazingly transformed into unique, simple and beautiful jewelry. Artist and designer Kathleen Plate uses glass bottles to create unusual and eye-catching earrings, necklaces and bracelets.  Her "Recycled Square" and "Open" lines are truly unique, stylish and very cool.  Kathleen's fashionable jewelry has been featured on Gossip Girl; worn by Sienna Miller and the stars of 90210; and walked the catwalk at LA Fashion Week 2008.  She's been commissioned by huge companies like Aveda and Coca Cola.   Her line is available on line and in over 500 stores nationwide.

In 2005, production of glass was responsible for 4.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.  These emissions are toxic and harmful to breath.  Furthermore, a glass bottle can take up to one million years to breakdown.  Kathleen uses recovered glass in her jewelry, which keeps it from potentially entering landfills.

Buy products made from reclaimed materials and recycle.  Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled infinitely without any loss of purity or quality.  For every ton of glass that is recycled, raw materials are saved (1,300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash and 380 pounds of limestone).

Most recycled glass is used to make glass beverage containers.  Some other uses of post consumer glass are:

Americans recycle nearly 13 million glass jars and bottles every day.

We bought a pair of earrings and some bracelets for my sister-in-law for her birthday last year.  I had a hard time giving them away, but I'm glad that I did - she loves them!  (I'll got my eye of a few pieces for myself - maybe for my Birthday).  Get your own at www.SmartGlassJewelry.com.