Situation:

Zinc was approached by Sonepar to develop creative ways to re-use and re-imagine old inventory to prevent it from going into landfill, specifically old masks and neck warmers that were no longer usable due to local regulatory changes.

Idea:

Zinc built a specialised supply chain in collaboration with a local innovative supplier Manaomea; the project focused on breaking down the old masks and neck warmers into raw materials and combining with recycled yarn sourced from Italy to create a series of premium sustainable pens. The supply chain was kept local where possible to further reduce transport distance, costs and emissions.

Furthermore, Zinc is exploring opportunities to further expand the supplier network and production capabilities to expand into notebook covers, cell phone stands, furniture and much more in the future.