Miguel Quental digs through the trash on a regular basis. But he’s not some homeless hobo trying to find a few cans or leftovers for dinner. The well-dressed and perfectly mannered man is actually a law lecturer at Macau University.

The avid environmentalist feels bringing his own bag to the supermarket or recycling office papers is not enough. He’s digging through the trash for A greenie’s treasure – in this case, discarded posters advertising everything from Celine Dion to Swan Lake and a Chinese calligraphy exhibition.

Miguel and his business partner Sofia Bobone use these discarded gems to create Macau Banner Bags – a one of a kind fashion statement which is a unique piece of Macau. Because once the posters are finished, there is no way of recreating the exact same bag.

So far, there are designs for both men and women. Other than having the satisfaction of owning a unique Macau accessory Miguel says the buyer can also have the satisfaction of knowing that they’ve saved a poster from harming the environment, possibly from clogging up a drain, getting entangled in wildlife, or turning into hazardous fumes while being incinerated.
He hopes that buyers will come to see the Macau Banner Bags as proud badge to advocate an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Ranging in price from MOP150 to MOP200, the bags are extremely affordable – because they are priced just to cover the cost of production.
More than 200 bags have been made, including posters from the Macau Grand Prix, Macau Tower and featuring the Ruins of St. Pauls. What he’ll come up with next, is really anyone’s guess because Miguel’s only source of materials is the garbage.

The Macau Banner Bags are available at address in S Domingos 18-22 Livraria Portuguesa.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 12:39 pm and is filed under Events, Heritage, Macau, Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.