They’re up, then they’re down. Up, then down. The story with the billboards along the Tel Aviv Ayalon Highway is a bit of a yo yo. Activists fight to have them taken down for polluting our collective consciousness and then advertisers win the battle and the billboards are up again.
That’s why we excited to hear about Naomi’s Abu YoYo (meaning piggyback ride) company which is designing goods from billboard waste. Check out her kitchen accessories for drying dishes, bags and office products.
Naomi writes Green Prophet, “In my small studio in Tel-Aviv I am designing and producing bags and accessories for the office and home, which are all made of used advertisment banners.
“In the struggle to forbid the large ads in Tel Aviv and on the highways, little is said about the material those things are made out of … well, it’s plastic, a very toxic variety, and tons of it is disposed of in unfriendly ways. (Only in Tel Aviv, at least 6,900 meters of it are produced and disposed of every month!).”
Naomi’s idea is not entirely new. We’ve heard of projects like this from Berlin, but we love how design and social consciousness are now merging in Israel.
More sustainable design from Israel
Read more about sustainable design in Israel:
Beauty Increases Sustainability, According to Designer Gadi Amit
Ten Sustainable Israeli Designers Who Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
Try to buy in bulk from warehouse stores or the shuk. Often these items come in big jars which you can use. But even if you cannot, you’ll often find that they offer items that have less packaging and therefore have less trash when you are done using them. An added benefit is that it can also save you money.Just another way in which you can GreenYourselfDaily! 
For some reason my mother always hated hanging plants. And clutter. And collecting things. And although I admire her from here to the moon and back – and learned a great deal from her as well, especially in the taste department – it took one Israeli design student to question her authority.