Attention, holiday air-travelers: While you plot how to cram maximum gifts into minimum baggage this season, take a moment to consider the difficulties posed by a full-to-bursting crowd at the baggage carousel. Might be wise to add something distinctive to that generic black suitcase, don’t you think? We’ve never seen luggage tags that stand out as much as these sturdy little numbers, which are made from meticulously cleaned garbage. Part of the huge array of goods sold by Bazura Bags, the tags recycle used juice containers that would otherwise have gone into landfills. They, like the assorted purses and market bags that match them, are made by a women’s cooperative in the Philippines; the raw materials come from local schoolchildren who, instead of tossing their lunch waste in the street, sell it to the women. The resulting bags are tough as nails, though perhaps a hair less durable than those made of Vietnamese beer cans. The strangest item from the Vietnamese contingent, though (and the most aesthetically pleasing), has to be a yoga mat bag made of old PVC advertising banners. If those were just about four times as big, they could almost be an eco-friendly replacement for Santa’s sack of gifts.




















