Botik's Christmas campaign!

You are walking through the city streets on a beautiful rainy November (or December) day. You enjoy the sound of rain under an umbrella and your feet feel the joy of stepping into puddles. Puddles are always tempting when you're wearing wellies. You step through a puddle, but suddenly the crisp water gets into your rubber boots and your feet start to get cold. You plan to take the rubber boots to the cobbler tomorrow. Unexpectedly, however, the next day, looking out of the window, snowdrifts are spreading outside, and it is necessary to find new, warmer footwear. Broken wellies are left forgotten in the corner of the closet. What's next?

A drawer full of broken rubber boots

As quickly as the snow appeared, in the same fast way there will be a big thaw again and the spring waters will flow all over the ground. Everything happens so suddenly that the repair of the previous pair of rubber boots doesn't even come to mind anymore, and new colorful rubber boots are already lined up in the front hall for the whole family. It goes on like this for years, until the front closet can no longer hold much except for forgotten broken wellies. However, the abundance of things in a small city apartment causes resentment....

Traditionally, rubber boots were made of natural rubber. Today, most of the cheaper rubbers are made from PVC. PVC, i.e. polyvinyl chloride, is one of the most versatile and widely used plastics, the production and later disposal of which is very burdensome on the environment around us [1]. In the domestic household, broken rubber boots mostly end up in household waste, from where they move on to landfill or incineration. A very large amount of energy has been used to produce our wellies, and they are just an additional burden on the environment in the trashcan under the sink. At this point, we could consciously think of ways to give rubber boots a new chance.

What to do with broken rubber boots?

The best option is to repair the rubber. For this, you need sandpaper, bicycle inner tube and good strong glue. The surface of the rubber must be cleaned, roughened with sandpaper and a suitable size piece of rubber must be stuck on. If you don't have the space yourself, a cobbler will do the same job. This is a nice little project to make on a dark winter evening. And do it rather early, so that the eaves don't start to drip again unnoticed.

Doing things yourself gives enjoyment

Sometimes, however, the wellie has already earned its time and it makes no sense to repair it anymore. Luckily we, here in an old rubber factory, know how to value old rain boots. Already since the beginning of the summer, we have been doing keychain workshops with our visitors. Black, minimalistic, stylish keychains have been made from old men's rubber boots, as well as with more characteristic cats and heart shaped keychains have been made from tiny rubber boots. Fantasy has no limits here.

Making a keychain

We started a small campaign during the Christmas month - glög in exchange for rubber boots! Bring your old rubber boots or boot to BOTIK on December 17th from 12-17 and you will receive a hot mug of glög as a gift. In addition, there will also be a (free) rubber keychain crafting workshop on that day.

We are waiting for you at Botik's Christmas-themed bonfire evening, this time with stacks of old wellies. Imagine sitting in a warm community bar, with snow, bonfires and children cooking sausages outside the window. There is a hot mulled wine in hand, and resentment has been replaced by a blissful feeling. The hall closet is empty again, spring is still "far away" and broken wellies have been given a new chance. A homemade keychain can be a nice eco-friendly gift or a good daily reminder - keep, take care, repair, reuse, make yourself, be creative!

Keychains made of old rubber boots

Text: Krõõt Saar

Photos: Kadri Tiganik

Used material:

[1] Bioneer. Mida peaks teadma PVC plastmassist? https://bioneer.ee/mida-peaks-teadma-pvc-plastmassist-0

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