((PKG))  UPCYCLED JEWELRY 
((Banner:  Upcycled Jewelry)) 
((Reporter/Camera:  June Soh)) 
((Map:  Hyattsville, Maryland)) 
 
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
This is the bottom of the milk jug.  The milk bottles are very 
good material for jewelry making.  It offers two different 
textures.  So, we have, like, a more textured surface and 
then we have a very smooth surface, and that allows to 
create a lot of texture within the piece. 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
I have always been very attracted to just repurposing and 
recycling in my daily life, just personally.  I was just doing it 
naturally, but then, when I learned about the amount of 
waste that we had in the world, then I, sort of thinking that, 
maybe, I should do more. 
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
My name is Jasmin Picariello.  I am the owner of the fashion 
company Giulia Letzi and the founder of Project META. 
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
META means destination in Italian.  The new destination is, 
literally, just not having our plastics in landfills and oceans, 
but repurposing it and making other things that we are going 
to use every day and for a longer period of time. 
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
I moved to the US when I was 16.  I am originally from Italy.  
And ever since from 2011, my mother and I worked on 
business together, first focusing on luxury Italian handmade 
scarves, and then later on developing into upcycled jewelry 
and accessories, which has eventually become the core of 
Project META. 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
What really motivated me to start this project came from a 
2017 study on plastic.  What was discovered is that globally 
in the world, we've produced 8.3 billion tons of plastic.  And 
of that number, unfortunately, only 12 percent is being 
incinerated, only 9 percent is being recycled, which means 
that nearly 79 percent is just in landfills and waters.  And that 
is a huge amount. 
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
I am now shaping the aluminum, which I took from used 
coffee pods.  I get this design idea mainly from my love of 
geometries and symmetries.  The aluminum in the original 
circular shape of the coffee pod really inspired me to keep 
the spiral round motif. 
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
These pieces are created with aluminum.  This aluminum 
comes from coffee pods and soda bottles.    
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
This blue is actually the natural color of the bottle that I've 
used. 
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
When we first started, we were using plastic from our own 
consumption or from our friends’ consumption, like, 
anywhere that we can save some plastic, we would use it.  
But now, I get my plastic and aluminum from grocery stores 
and coffee shops from my neighborhood.  We want to make 
sure that this is an initiative that involves community and 
local partners as much as possible. 
((NATS)) 
((Drew Nixon, Vigilante Coffee))   
We go through a lot of plastic bottles every week, and 
instead of throwing them away, we're trying to make better 
decisions with our recyclables by partnering with META, and 
we feel this is a way to improve the planet one small step at 
a time.   
((NATS)) 
((Jasmin Picariello, Founder, Project META)) 
I am a true believer that we don't need just a handful of 
people recycling and doing zero waste perfectly, but we 
need a lot of people doing that even if imperfectly.  And so, 
with Project META, if we can even help, you know, the one 
person a day contribute to this initiative and realize that their 
changes and their actions daily will have an impact, then, I 
think, we are heading in a good direction. 
((NATS))