Most girls dream of marching down the aisle in a dress so beautiful it turns the heads of her bridegroom and wedding guests. But what about the frugal, environmentally conscious bride who wouldn’t wear something that costs a fortune but can’t be used again without having to tie the knot as many times as the late actress Elizabeth Taylor?

At the "Medical Design & Manufacturing" exhibition in New York earlier this month, Beacon Converters and DuPont Protection Solutions offered a sustainable alternative: Bella the Bride’s wedding gown, made of discarded DuPont “Tyvek” HDPE for medical packaging. Both the gown and its train covered with more than 400 flowers were made from waste rescued, for a while at least, from an unhappy end in landfill or incinerator.

Beacon said its main reason for commissioning the gown designed by Nancy Judd was to raise awareness for reducing the amount of US healthcare packaging waste that goes to landfill. It didn’t say anything about the gown’s recyclability. Best left to one’s imagination, but at least it won’t need to be dry cleaned and hang in the wardrobe for years.