In Santa Ana, El Salvador, a small artisan group known as Uca Ruffatti is making handbags and purses from discarded car and truck tires, and keeping El Salvador's roads and ravines clean while they're at it.

Using the inner tube found inside the outer tire, or the part that hits the pavement, these resourceful artisans cut and style the salvaged material into a fashionable and funtional purse or handbag. With an exterior designed to withstand the elements, these accessories are perfect for traveling, yet hip enough for the streets of New York City.

But wait, there's more. Uca Ruffatti's eco-friendly line has gained so much attention in the United States that the producer-owned cooperative is making plans to double production by the end of 2009.

Owner Maria de los Angeles de Ruffatti tells us this means more employees, more machines, more markets, and new materials (and in this case, materials that would otherwise be clogging El Salvador's roads and waterways). One World Projects is proud to be one of the partners able to help Maria and her artisans expand their business and livelihoods.

Uca Ruffatti also produces a line of Recycled Tire and Leather Handbags (pictured below) made of recycled tires with recycled leather accents. Recycled leather is made by collecting leather trimmings from car and garment factories, then grinding them down into fibers until they reach a lint-like consistency. Then it's reconstituted by adding glue and a bonding agent.

For additional for Recycled Tire Handbags and Purses and Recycled Tire and Leather Handbags and Purses handmade by Uca Ruffatti, please visit www.oneworldprojects.com.

How Recycled Leather Is Made

1. Trimmings are collected from the garment and car industries that use leather.

2. Trimmings are dumped into a series of grinders to break the leather down into fibers. At this stage it looks like a pile of lint.

3. Fibers go through a series of washings and are then reconstituted by adding glue and bonding agent.

4. The mixture is rolled, pressed, heated, painted, and dried into sheets, then either stamped for texture (alligator, pebble, and other designs) or left smooth.

5. Ready for re-use! Recycled leather can be used for purses, checkbook covers and passport holders, wallets, mouse pads, shoes, plotter pads for desks, penholders, picture frames, and a variety of other household items.