altereco

We are delighted to announce that Altereco has been nominated for first ever sustainability award, in the category of Best Sustainable Initiative with an Impact (the first category).

Honeycombers aided by four well known sustainability champions has nominated 127 sustainable businesses / organisations/ eco-warriors in 20 different categories. For us the last two years, we have interacted with many of the brands/ people nominated and it is truly humbling to be acknowledged amongst some others who are absolute inspirations.

Some of our favorite brands/ organisations featured in it are CRUST Group .sg .sg .sg . There are others that I have interacted with and absolutely love their mission and zeal . And there are so many more that I look forward to trying out or collaborating with. I think this is a great effort by Honeycombers as it really showcases the landscape of sustainable businesses in Singapore and that increasingly one can find sustainable alternatives!

So take some time out to look at what different brands are doing! and cast your vote!

Our last one in the series of crafting techniques is papier-mâché. It literally translates to "chewed paper" in French, however its origins are in China is 200 BC.

It's a fun and therapeutic craft, and something both children and adults will equally enjoy. Many of our festive gifting and decorative items are made by papier mache, and typically newspapers are used to create the pulp.

Our artisans Sarit (top) and Namrita (below) are featured here.

A beautiful craft form that can create a masterpiece with just thin strips of material.

What can be woven? Its such a versatile craft, with endless possibilities. From water hyacinth, textile, newspaper, multilayer packaging, plastic bags - are some of the materials that we have woven.

Our makers Moolchand, Kishanpal and Vishnu are featured in the image.

Over the next 3 weeks, we present three crafting techniques that are being used by our artisans to create our accessories, stationery and gifting.

Wooden block printing is first in the series. Believed to have originated in China and widely used to print books and scriptures, however now it is a popular craft in India, typically on textile. It allows one to create intricate, multicolor patterns on large and varied surfaces. Shankar (top) & Malti (below), featured in the photos are our master artisans,

Brighten up your gifts with our block printed gift bags, gift paper and stationery! DM for more details.

Altereco started in the middle of the pandemic, and so did many other businesses, as I discovered soon after. It has been such an incredible journey for me, and a big part of it has been this amazing community of women, who have just supported and inspired us in so many ways. Today, we are making a special mention of 3 terrific women and their awesome SUSTAINABLE businesses!

Payal - our journeys could not have been more similar in terms of our arrival in Singapore, to the birth of our businesses. Through Unplastik, Payal hopes to make zero-waste an easy goal for everyone. They have an amazing range of lunch-boxes and storage bags, but deeper than that is a desire to really make a difference!

Kanika - works with artisans in India to create amazing fashion and homewares, using upcycled vintage sari kantha as well as other indigenous textiles. She was the first person to guide me through the LOC process (so grateful for that!). Her warmth (as well as the colors of Anek designs products) can brighten up a seriously dull day!

Gauri - is an expert at composting and solid waste management. She has done incredible work with schools and corporates over the past 2 years! It is a very tough and challenging work physically, and it is truly admirable how Gauri plunges herself into it.

So grateful to have gotten to know all of you! And looking forward to growing this eco-system! Special mention to and Janet .art and Ekta from Meetmumz and Mother/Founder for creating such amazing, easy-going communities for women.

We have been experimenting a lot with natural inks - coffee, indigo, turmeric, chebula black, madder root to name a few. And the results, as you can see, are stunning. We now have a growing range of stationery and gifting, adorned in different colors and strokes. If you would like to take a sneak-peek at our WIP catalog, DM us.

This range is simply paper (upcycled/ recycled) and natural inks, devoid of laminates and chemical pigments, making it very easy to recycled or compost. Simplifying material structures is extremely important in our journey to a circular economy! What do you think?

Its been a really long time since I posted, and I felt it would be good to "Re"start with my story.

I was a teen when I became curious about solid waste management, thanks to a photo exhibit by Sudhakar Olwe at a popular Arts festival in Mumbai in 2001, about the conservancy workers in the local municipal corporation. The nature of their work was shocking and appalling.

Over the years, the passion grew, but it remained just a thought as I worked in other industries. A commitment to doing socially sustainable work also led me to do a brief stint in microfinance.

I really started working in the ‘waste’ industry, when I took up volunteering with Society for Child Development, Delhi. Every waste was treated as a resource, including egg shells, mango seeds and the threads of flower garlands. And I wanted to share that joy of re-using, upcycling, and ultimately eliminating "the idea of waste".

- Vrinda Jain

P.S. I will share more about our hiatus later!

Its been a really long time since I posted, and I felt it would be good to "Re"start with my story.

I was a teen when I became curious about solid waste management, thanks to a photo exhibit by Sudhakar Olwe at a popular Arts festival in Mumbai in 2001, about the conservancy workers in the local municipal corporation. The nature of their work was shocking and appalling.

Over the years, the passion grew, but it remained just a thought as I worked in other industries. A commitment to doing socially sustainable work also led me to do a brief stint in microfinance.

I really started working in the ‘waste’ industry, when I took up volunteering with Society for Child Development, Delhi. Every waste was treated as a resource, including egg shells, mango seeds and the threads of flower garlands. And I wanted to share that joy of re-using, upcycling, and ultimately eliminating "the idea of waste".

I will share more about our hiatus later!