What do old Barbie dolls, discarded coffee cup lids and used mailer bags have in common? They’ve all been melted and molded into consumer tech accessories – like speakers and power banks – by British upcycling company Gomi.

Gomi, which means “trash” in Japanese, is on a mission to “make tech out of trash,” says Rishi Gupta, company co-founder. “We try to use as much waste material to build our products as possible, so every single part has a story behind its origins,” he adds.

Gomi turns hard-to-recycle plastics and retired e-bike batteries into power banks and other tech products.

The company sources hard-to-recycle plastics, like bags, Bubble Wrap and food packaging, then adds “masterbatch” pigments to create a unique marbled finish on its products. It also repurposes batteries from retired e-bikes, rather than sourcing new ones, to power its creations.

“We believe that sustainability can be done well, but it needs to look beautiful and also be functional,” Gupta says. “At the end of the day, if somebody doesn’t use it, it’s not sustainable, right?”

The other key to the Gomi product line, Gupta says, is repairability – a key consideration for tech products since, for example, a power bank’s battery eventually will die out. “All of our products are repairable,” he adds. “We can replace and repair every single item at a low cost, which is really important because it contributes to the idea of longevity.”

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Gupta believes Gomi is a great fit for the promo products industry because of the powerful sustainability story its products can tell; plus, he notes, “customization is our superpower.” For sure, Gomi is planning a more concerted push into the promo market, and efforts are underway.

Some of the projects the company has already worked on involve unique customization: Back in 2023, when the “Barbie” movie dominated pop culture, Gomi launched a “Childhood Memories” campaign, asking people to send in their old and broken dolls and other plastic toys so that the company could give them new life as speakers.

“The idea was that toys have such sentimental value to people,” Gupta says. “It’s one of my favorite projects because it has a lot of meaning and people were excited about it.”

Gomi designs its recycled products with end-of-life and longevity in mind – ensuring they’re repairable and recyclable.

Gomi has also partnered with a number of brands on limited-edition projects. The company created black-and-white checkerboard power banks and speakers to mark the opening of a Vans store. Gomi worked with reusable drinkware brand Chilly’s to turn some of their coffee cup lids into power banks. For a project with retailer Goodhood, Gomi took the company’s mailing bags and molded them into a range of unique limited-edition speakers.

In general, though, Gomi will go to U.K. recycling centers and purchase shredded plastic – typically from household waste – making sure it’s certified and doesn’t include toxins that would make it unsafe to melt. It does add some pigment from virgin plastic to give the beige recycled plastic a more attractive, marbled look, but Gupta says the plastic used is still made from around 99% recycled material. The products are also easily recyclable since Gomi doesn’t use glue – only screws – in its assembly process. “Product end-of-life is really important to us,” he says.

Though it’s known for its products’ unique marble finish, Gomi has also added a single-color version that’s about 30% cheaper to make, in part to appeal to the promo market, Gupta says.

And Gomi has been building up a fan base in promo.

Danny Rosin, co-president of B Corp-certified Brand Fuel (asi/145025), last year wrote on LinkedIn that “This delivers on everything I want in a premium gift: sustainability, functionality, comes with a powerful story worth sharing, originality/uniqueness, and social impact.” Joseph Sommer, CEO of Counselor Best Place to Work Whitestone (asi/359741), called Gomi a “killer brand” on LinkedIn, adding that they’re transforming junk that would otherwise be landfill-bound “into sick tech accessories.”

As the promo industry grapples with increasing its sustainability and combatting a “brandfill” reputation, incorporating recycled plastics has become more prevalent, often in the form of rPET apparel, but also in hard goods. Several suppliers now offer tech accessories made, at least in part, from recycled materials. Last year, Counselor Top 40 supplier SRG (asi/84592; Canada, asi/84595) launched the PlastEco by PECO awards, made by a Vancouver-based artist who collects hard-to-recycle plastic waste from neighborhoods, sorts it by color and melts it into plates with a marbleized coloring.

Gomi has also started making laptop sleeves and other soft goods from discarded courier uniforms.

Looking forward, Gomi has begun to expand its upcycling efforts into textiles, creating laptop sleeves, pouches and other bags out of discarded courier uniforms. “These uniforms were once used to deliver goods; now they’re being used to actually make goods,” Gupta says. “That’s kind of our hope for the future, to expand our waste line.”

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