Environmentally Speaking – Our guide to 8 recycled and recyclable materials 15 Aug 2022
We’re getting more enquiries from clients looking to get recyclable and recycled materials which are environmentally friendly for their jobs.
Here are our top recyclable and carbon neutral materials
Green Cast Ⓡ

Green cast Amari acrylic fobs

Greencast recycled and recyclable acrylic fobs in a row
Recycled Acrylic comes exclusively from Amari Plastics.
It is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable and is used in exactly the same way as regular acrylic. This material is carbon neutral.

Iridis spiral 2
This wonder material is supplied in 2030x1525mm sheets, in a variety of colours which are similar to Perspex colours.
TroCraft Eco

Engraved Trocraft Eco recycled material with the CutLaserCut logo
TroCraft Eco is made from pure cellulose fibre, produced without additives, fully biodegradable and allows emissions-free processing. Due to its low weight and easy processing, TroCraft Eco is perfect for interior design, model making or product and industrial design. This durable material can also be used for customised, modern designs given its stability, flexibility and formability.

Laser Cut Trocraft Eco with CutLaserCut logo
This material is supplied in 1mm, 1.5mm and 3mm in sheets of 600 x 300mm, packs of 5.
We can get this in a couple of days from our supplier
LaserLeather

Raster engraved LaserLeather with CutLaserCut logo
This product is a high-quality artificial leather with a smooth surface, a lot like Rowmark we can engrave from one colour leather to expose another colour:
One of the advantages of using artificial leather compared to real leather is that it is odourless. It also cleans very easily.
Laserleather is available in 6 colour combinations:
Black/White Gold, Brown/Black, Brown/Orange, Berry/Red, Black/Blue and Silver Red
It is supplied in packs of 5 in 813 x 508mm sheets with a thickness of 0.50mm
Smile Plastics

Strips of Smile Plastics Spectra made from PET packaging waste. CNC machined.
We’ve been lucky enough to get our paws on some of this 100% recycled and 100% recyclable material for a couple of jobs now.
These guys recycle all kinds of plastic- bleach bottles, cleaning spray bottles, shampoo bottles…
They seem to do it all, but if you’re looking for them to do something specific, its best to get in touch.

CNC machined edge of Smile Plastics
Although the material is awesome, we can’t cut it on our lasers.
We can however cut it on our CNC machine:
They also do sample packs, which you can get here.
Recycled Fabrics
We can laser cut pretty much any fabric which doesn’t contain PVC or Vinyl.
Just Fabrics have some excellent information on the different types and the fabrics are beautiful.
We have some massive laser beds (3000x2000mm and 2500x1250mm) to help cut all of your recycled fabrics.
If its not a material we’ve tried to cut before, we will always test it for you to see how it cuts.
Glass & Metal
Although we may not be able to cut Glass or Metal, we can certainly engrave both.
There are loads of companies offering recycled glass, but this one certainly caught my eye.
I think one of these would look beautiful with some engraving for your special someone.

Dave Farnham artwork on Anodised Aluminium, Raster engraving.
It goes without saying that pretty much all metal can be recycled, but these guys don’t always melt the metal again, it can be rolled which means their carbon footprint is even smaller!
We can engrave a lot of metals, mainly using a compound spray or we can order Anodised Aluminium cut to size.
One of my favourite metal engravings we’ve done is by Dave Farnham
I love how the engraving reveals the colour underneath the anodising!
Cork
We can laser cut and laser engrave cork.
Cork is a natural product which comes from the bark of the cork oak tree which makes it very sustainable.
It is also 100% compostable.

Laser Cut cork sample, raster engraved
The good news is you can recycle your cork stoppers from wine bottles 🙂
Get Involved
If you want to do a bit more than recycling with your local authority, you can contact Terracycle who will help you set up a local collection.
These guys run contests and also make some stunning items from the recycled goods.
I found this great piece from Instructables which shows you how you can recycle some pieces yourself!
Depending on what material you’ve used, we will either be able to laser cut or CNC machine it for you.
Boots offer a recycling programme for hard to recycle products, which you can’t pop in your recycling bin at home.
Best part is you get Boots points for it too!
Recycled Paper & Card
I almost forgot to add the most obvious of all recycled materials, Paper and Card!
We don’t supply paper because there are so many varieties, but Eco-Craft have some great recycled options.

Laser cut greyboard sample
We do supply some cards including Greyboard
Greyboard is made using pulp produced from waste paper, such as old newspapers, cardboard and other packaging. This makes it 100% recycled and an environmentally-friendly that is also very versatile. A lot of clients use it to make Architectural models, or Stencils.