Felek Notebooks

Location: Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia

Feleke was born out of the desires of a print press to reduce its environmental footprint by recycling the paper waste they generate. To do so they leaned on Ethiopia’s long history of bookmaking to create artisan notebooks out of recycled paper. They take the paper waste and recycle it on-site to make inside covers and mixed interiors pages. This social enterprise has found creative ways of incorporating recycled car tires as notebook covers and goat hair as design accents in their notebooks to create a unique look and feel. while create a responsible corporate culture by consuming their waste, Feleke also provides recycled paper to other companies with the hopes of addressing some of the demand for paper products. Felek also takes on social responsibility by providing school notebook for children in rural Ethiopia from the sale of their notebooks. 

Read more: Fashion Art Food: Stories of people turning waste to livelihood.