The Glass Recycling Project

Do you know the legend of the Hummingbird?

“One day a terrible fire broke out in a forest. Frightened, all the animals fled their homes, feeling helpless, except for one little hummingbird. The hummingbird swooped into the stream for a few drops of water and went back to the forest to put out the fire. Then it went back to the stream again, again, and again. 

All the other animals watched in disbelief: "Your wings will burn, your beak is too small, and one drop at a time you'll never put out the fire!" 

The hummingbird, without skipping a beat, looked back and said, "At least, I am doing my part."

At Tribal Textiles, we believe in empowering our local community.

We strive for transparency and sustainability. We create handmade products, for you and your home.

Like the Hummingbird, we also want to do our part in helping the conservation of our beautiful surrounding nature. Recycling in this remote part of Zambia is still a huge challenge. There is a huge amount of aluminium, plastic and glass waste.  Still today, they are quite difficult to recycle properly.

In 2018, we decided to combine our love for art, our knowledge in craft and our will to contribute to the recycling process in the Valley. 

The Glass recycling project was born!  We invested in tools that allow us today to transform the excess glass bottles into nice products. Lodges deliver us their empty glass bottles, then Mwamba, the Glass workshop manager either slump, sand or bead those bottles and then magic happen…We are more than happy to present our first Glass recycled range.

In 2019, 10% of the profits of this range will be donated to CHIPEMBELE, to support their recycling teaching activities in the Valley.

Tribal Textiles will continue to invest in new recycling tools and designer support. In our vision, we want to be able to also transform plastic and aluminium, in the coming years.