Costa Rica News – Three Costa Rican entrepreneurs from the Technological Institute of Costa Rica turn wooden remains into bags.
It’s a project that won honorable mention in the Mexican contest Young Forest Entrepreneur.
Rudy Bello, Maria Fernanda Pereira and Elia Estrada are the proud creators of the Caryocar handbag brand. They raised a concern, that wood waste is often burned to run factory boilers, contributing to release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and then came up with a solution.
The proposal is to use the wood debris to make comfortable and aesthetic bags. They named the brand Caryocar after the Caryocar tree species in Costa Rica.
They created two styles so far. One is made of teak and varnished whereas the other is melina in a natural finish.
The National Census of the Primary Forestry Industry of Costa Rica 2011 showed the national consumption of wood processed in sawmills and other sites per year is 697,089 cubic meters, of which 35-50% end up in waste.
