SIKLO Pilipinas, a Philippine-based enterprise that manufactures accessories from scrap rubber tyres.
Siklo upcycles – a method of re-purposing discarded materials to be made into new, sellable products – scrap tyres (and inner tubes of tyres) into durable travel products such pouches, bags, and backpacks.
“We mainly upcycle tire and inner tube rubbers. Since there is no known disintegration rate for tyre rubber to decay, upcycling this material implies durability that can outlive our generation,” said Clarise de Villa-Ecuacion in a local report. Clarise, together with her husband Lyndon Ecuacion own and run Siklo.
Clarice said that while tyre rubber is durable and sustainable, that also make the material tough to work with.
Nonethless, the Siklo owners give credit to their enterprise for benefiting the environment as well as their community with the livelihood activity it generates.
Moreover, they said that upcycling has very low carbon footprint in manufacturing, and thus makes “greener” sense.