Our story

Who we are
Hi there, we're Sam, Leah & Justin and welcome to our small tribe of people rescuing unnecessary waste.

We may be a small tribe, but we're on a big mission... a mission bigger than the mountains of bottles piling up in landfills.

Our Mission
Our mission is all about improving the circular economy, by upcycling and reducing the amount of bottles in landfills.

Where it all began
Before lockdown we played about with upcycling bottles, creating SmoothEdge to help save a little travel money.

We always flirted with the idea of creating a sustainable business... then lockdown hit, which meant we had time to focus on upcycling.

Smoothedge was born
This is when we learnt, that despite bottles being recyclable, heaps end up in landfills... quite bizarre, right?


Fuelled with excitement and optimism of what we might find, we went on a hunt, diving into stinky bins and pulling out "waste" bottles.

Digging for gold
We found a bunch of bottles, some iconic, some beautifully designed and some just plain and simplistic - all of which had a high chance of heading to landfills, damage which couldn't be undone.

The Shed
So with Justins shed full of bottles, we started to dream of what could be. We upcycled the bottles into different types of glasses and listed them on Etsy. We started to gain interest and a few orders.

From bin diving to collaborations
The amount of surplus and waste bottles was far greater than we expected. We were also surprised to find out that bottles were being rejected BEFORE they were even used.

So we left justins shed, and levelled up our opperation. We found an actual workshop where we could make a real transformation.

We started to team up with brands who had surplus and waste bottles, working in collaboration to avoid unnecessary waste and transform them into sustainable glassware.


So, why not raise a (upcycled) glass and say cheers, to a more sustainable future.

  • Sam

    Manager, Founder, Director

  • Leah

    Founder, Director

  • Justin

    Director, Sustainability Expert

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How do we stack up?

How we measure versus a standard factory made glass.

SmoothEdge upcycled glasses

Up to 100x more sustainable.

  • CO2 = 10g (over 100x better for the environment)
  • Most bottles are sourced local to SmoothEdge HQ saving miles of transport
  • Reduces the amount of waste heading to landfills and promoted circularity.

Standard factory made

Don't settle for generic glassware.

  • CO2 to produce one standard glass = 1200g
  • Virgin materials are dug up, farmed, melted in energy-intensive furnaces to temperatures as high as 1,500 to 1,700°C
  • In 2020, a staggering 25% of all glassware exported globally came from China, contributing to the carbon footprint of an already energy-intensive industry.

10000+%

Bottles saved from landfill

10.9 tonnes

Equivalent CO2saved

100%+%

Hand-crafted in the UK

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