A Walking Advertisement

Ever wonder what happens to old billboards? Probably not. But French entrepreneur Jean-Marc Imberton and designer Marie-Angèle Godot did, and what they found spurred them to action. "We realized there was a huge problem," says Imberton, of the giant polyvinyl chloride (PVC) advertising posters common to most cityscapes and beltways. "Their lifespan is very short and they're practically indestructible. Some of them stay up for months, others are used only for an evening. We wanted to give them a second life."

So their company, Reversible, decided to morph the everlasting stuff into a hip line of handbags and totes. Together with a small team of artisan workers in Vaulx-en-Velin near Lyons, they scissor out the best graphics to produce one-of-a-kind carry-alls. But more than just an original fashion accessory, Imberton sees them as a "modest" initiative to develop an environmentally responsible solution. Only a tiny fraction of billboards in France are recycled. Removed from their supports, some end up on farms, tossed over woodpiles or machinery. Others are burned, which, if not done properly, releases dioxins into the air.

Reversible collects the used billboards from Lyons producer La Cotonnière, cleans them, and delivers the scraps to Texyloop, a plant that processes the PVC for reuse. The bags' $66-119 cost helps finance the group recycling effort. And what happens when your bag wears out? Each one comes with a self-addressed PVC envelope so that it can be returned — to be reprocessed. www.reversible.fr