February 14 – The promotional street banners used by organizations throughout Long Beach are getting a second life as Upcycle it Now converts them into fashionable wallets, totes and various bags. Founded by Liz Bordessa, owner of the Long Beach-based tailoring company Just Alterations, and her daughter, Christina Johnson, Upcycle it Now began after Johnson’s internship at a sustainable design company in India alerted her to the immense need to divert waste away from the world’s overflowing landfills. With the assistance of Bordessa’s tailors and seamstresses, the mother-daughter duo began creating their products from the city’s street banners and immediately received orders from the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Long Beach Museum of Art to carry the company’s recycled designs in their gift shops. For more information about Upcycle it Now, or to have your company’s promotional materials recycled, call 562/431-3453 or visit www.upcycleitnow.com. Pictured, from left, are: Bordessa; Jonathan Clough, membership manager at the Aquarium of the Pacific; and Johnson. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)