Local Collaboration
= direct impact
Boosting the local economy one carnival at a time!
Carnival is a Caribbean cultural event that is celebrated in over 50+ countries. This festival of liberation creates a huge amount of waste that constitutes of single use items like: carnival costumes, plastic and metal, and J'ouvert apparal.
Carnicycle was formed in November 2018 as the first social enterprise to recycle carnival costumes in the world. Our mission is to bridge the gap between Carnival Culture (carnival, fetes, and other festivals) and sustainability through environmental advocacy and costume recycling
Meet The Eco Team
Danii Mcletchie
CEO/ Co-founder
Hailing from Canaan, Tobago, Danii graduated from Howard University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Collectively, she has over 4 years in Environmental research and practival appcalivation as an Environmental System Engineer at Campbell's Soup Company.
Luke Harris -
President/ Co- founder
Luke is currently pursing a degree in biotechnology at the University of the West Indies, Mona. In addition to his work at Carnicycle, He operates his own greenhouse selling nursery plants to local farmers and works in his family run agro-processing business, Fuellite Caribbean.
Tara Sapien - Web / E -commerce Development/ Marketing
Tara is Bermudian, serial social entrepreneur, multifaceted artist, designer,
and performer joining our team from Bermuda. Her main businesses include performance collective: Cirque and her handmade, eco-friendly business, La Garza Bermuda
Arlene Perieria - Strategic Business Manager
Arlene is a food entrepreneur who enjoys carnival and good food . She strives on creativity and attention to detail. She has been a chef for 15+ years, owning several different restaurants, including the latest seafood restaurant, the Octopus Grille.
Environmental Sustainability
We are fighting against climate change in our own unique way. Caribbean countries are predisposed to be affected most negatively by climate change. During carnival many single use items are discarded through events like fetes and the road parade. Through strategic collaborations, we aim to:
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Work with designers to make carnival costumes created for circularity (easy to reuse for year after year)
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Work with promoters to ensure that carnival related fetes (parties) instill green practices.
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Work with masqueraders to provide them them information about climate change, tips on how to upcycle their costumes and engage them in our costume recycling drives!
Social Sustainability
The Caribbean has a huge creative economy, part of which carnival resides in. The materials used to create costumes are most typically: rhinestones, feathers, fabric and metal wire. Aside from metal wire, we the other materials used in costume production are usually imported and expensive. Through our costume recycling program, we can provide these materials to creatives and artisans and emerging designers at a reduced cost, so that they are able to start their careers, businesses and finish their school projects without breaking the bank.
Carnival is women is a popular statement that recognizes the importance of women in carnival. In addition to donating and recycling carnival bras, we aim to to provide a new bra to every carnival bra recycled starting in 2022.
Economic Sustainability
Bringing in billions of dollars globally, the carnival industry is vital to many tourist- based countries as it is a main source of income for many individuals living in those countries.
There are several instances where items such as feathers have been banned from being imported due to potential diseases, thus causing mas bands to not complete their costumes. Additionally, shipping/ importing costs are increasing globally.
Through our costume recycling process, we want to provide quality, recycled material that will allow bands to reduce their procurement costs.
