Yiuco the World!

Recently I read a very interesting article on eco-site Treehugger about the very first online marketplace solely for recycled handicrafts. To my surprise...it's actually based in Greece! The Yiuco eshop is brand new so don't expect a large collection of objects yet but I personally find the idea amazing and that's why I wanted to learn more about it! Soti (one half of the Yiuco team) was kind enough to answer my questions! Enjoy.

How did the idea of an exclusively eco online market come up?

As we say on our blog, Yiuco popped up in the middle of a crisis….and to be more specific, after a closet clean up (read more here)! A pile of clothes took up a corner waiting for someone to do something with them. Trash them away was not an option….let’s recycle them we thought! After research and brain storming we realise that there were many people, companies, organizations who prefer instead of trashing the world to reconstruct it. So, we thought, let’s get together!
And Yiuco.com was born!

When was Yiuco "born"?

Yiuco is on air since the end of 2010….actually is a newborn!!!!

You are based in Greece. Do you believe that the Greeks have an eco-concious buying attitude?

It is quite surprising the feed back we receive from Greece. Even though the Greeks are not that much into the eco-conscious-buying as an attitude yet, we strongly believe that they will be. And we hope that Yiuco will become a tool, a motive for Greeks to overcome their own closet crisis……

Actually, what we really want to promote through yiuco, is the power of the individual on the environmental issue. We say don’t throw it, yiuco it! to awake people and make them realize that their trashes (of the past maybe) can become their treasure for the future.
How do you check if all products that are traded follow the rules of recycling?

The aim is to motivate people re-usetheir trashes; to make post consuming materials be used again. Yiuco is supporting creative recycling, whatever that means. We are trying convincing people to act using recycling as an attitude. All sellers, after accepting all appropriate terms of use, categorise their products according to the recycling methods they have used. Since Yiuco is a platform, each seller is responsible for whatever declines.

What are your basic goals?

To Yiuco the world!!!!!!!

Who are the people behind Yiuco and what's your lifestyle like?

We are two, we are women and we are related to each other, as we are mother and daughter. Voula, 50, is an environmental scientist and Soti, 32, used to work in advertising! Lifestyle? Yiuco it is!

bags pic source: here and here