“Americans throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months, and enough iron and steel to supply our entire nation’s automakers every day,” says The Clean Air Council.

If this statement sounds shocking it shouldn’t be. Every year Americans throw away tons of garbage without a second thought of what its environmental impact to our eco system might be.

One company that’s making a difference when it comes to our perception of a tin can is Escama Studio which is a collaborative design studio based in San Francisco and Brazil that produces a handcrafted line of women’s bags made from recycled aluminum tabs.

A member of the Fair Trade Federation, Escama Studio is unique because the crochet work done on their bags is executed in Brazil by a women’s collective that has adapted their traditional crochet techniques to inspire a modern design sense. The bags produced are beautifully crafted fully lined conversation pieces that are bound to catch even the most distracted person’s eye.

My personal favorite bag from Escama Studio that I can’t wait to purchase is ‘Misha‘, which was hand crocheted with over 1,600 post-consumer recycled pop tops.

So next time before you throw away that can that once held your favorite soft drink, think about the greater impacted it will have on the environment once it is recycled.