How to recycle an umbrella?

Umbrellas are an essential accessory all year round in the UK. In winter you may prefer a strong storm proof one and in warmer months a compact umbrella, easy to store in a bag and ready for those sudden showers. We all try to find the best quality umbrella to fit our needs and we get disappointed if it breaks. As strong as the new tech umbrellas are, their shape and the way we use them in strong wind can cause them to break. What to do with a broken umbrella? It is the awkward shape that makes us wonder what’s the best way to dispose of them. They’re a mix of metal or wood and fabric, attached at seams that’s quite hard to separate. Most people won't bother and put the brolly in a non recycling bin but there’s few ways you can recycle or up-cycle this accessory. Up-cycle - transform the umbrella into something useful! You can detach the fabric and turn it into a piece of clothing - skirts are quite popular. If you don't fancy wearing an umbrella, you can use it to create outfits for dolls, make it into a cushion or a shopping bag. Party banners are also a nice idea. There’s quite a few ways to use the umbrella in your garden as decorations: plant holders or door decor filled with flowers - perfect for spring! Recycle - You can recycle parts of your umbrella but not likely all of it. Most home recycling bins, provided by your local council, usually accept metals such as steel and aluminium. You can recycle wood at various civic amenity sites and they’re usually not hard to find in your local area. Plastic can be recycled but only if you know what type of plastic it is. If you are an ECO conscious person ( we should all be by now! ) consider purchasing a sustainable umbrella either made from recycled materials or an umbrella that can be fixed when broken. At Jollybrolly we offer a range of sustainable umbrellas by Impliva: an ECO Bamboo Umbrella (with a bamboo pole and recycled PET canopy) and an ECO walking umbrella (with a wooden handle and recycled plastic canopy). We also sell the famous Blunt umbrellas - hi tech brollies that can be fixed if they break and come with a 2 years warranty. To summarise try to buy a quality umbrella that wont break easily but if it does consider up-cycling it - its still the best way of making use out of product. You can also try and fix it! See our previous blog post here.