Recycling | Industrial Design and Innovation

Refugee-made Backpacks Make an Important Statement

November 1, 2016 by charlottedickson

One of design’s most important roles lies in responding to our ever-developing social, political, and cultural climate. BAG2WORK is a design project that seeks to address some of the issues emerging around the ongoing refugee crisis as well as communicating an important message: “If we want newcomers to integrate, we have to get them back to work.” The BAG2WORK backpack designed by a Dutch duo known as the “No Mad Makers”, not only uses waste materials from refugee life boats and […]

Categories: Interesting • Tags: Amsterdam, Backpack, Bag, BAG2WORK, design for social good, Dutch, Europe, No Mad Makers, Recycling, refugee, refugee crisis, socially responsible design, sustainability, upcycling

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Finding the Beauty in Construction Waste

October 13, 2016 by charlottedickson

Good design has the power to create beauty and value from otherwise worthless materials. The Recycle series by Bentu design takes the kind of construction site rubble that we walk past everyday and think nothing of and transforms it into a set of robust, minimalist homeware designs Click here to see more.

Categories: Interesting • Tags: bentu design, concrete, construction, construction waste, design, homeware, homeware design, homewares, light, material, materiality, materials, plant, recycle, Recycling, responsible design, reuse, rubble

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Precious Plastic: Open Source Plastic Recycling

April 29, 2016 by charlottedickson

Designer Dave Hakkens has developed a set of four open source machines that can be used to recycle everyday plastic waste to produce new plastic goods. Inspired by the wide availability of plastic waste and inaccessibility of plastic manufacturing tools, Hakkens has worked to create simple machines that can be made, repaired, and customised by people all over the world. Through preciousplastic.com users can access the plans to build an extruder, shredder, compressor, and injection moulder as well as video tutorials to help with getting […]

Categories: Interesting • Tags: environment, environmental design, open source, plastic, Recycling, responsible design, sustainability, sustainable design

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Interesting: Adidas Concept Shoe Made From Reclaimed Ocean Waste

July 17, 2015 by charlottedickson

If you read our recent post featuring a sustainable shoe design by Ammo Liao then you will be aware of the environmental issues present in the footwear industry. This concept shoe design by Adidas presents an alternative approach to sustainable and socially responsible shoe design. The design is made entirely from plastics retrieved from the ocean. Designed in collaboration with Parley For The Oceans, the design seeks to encompass the organisation’s mission and values: ‘at parley for the oceans, we want to […]

Categories: Interesting • Tags: adidas, design, footwear, Industrial design, interesting, marine, materials, ocean, parley for the oceans, plastics, product design, Recycling, shoes, social design, socially responsible design, sustainability, waste, wearable

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Interesting: Bio-knit Recyclable Sneakers

July 15, 2015 by charlottedickson

Products that contain a large number of different materials make recycling difficult and as a result often end up in landfills. Footwear is one industry where this is often the case, with modern shoe designs using as many as 65 different materials. Once in a landfill shoes these shoes take a minimum of 5o years to decompose. In response to this environmental challenge, designer Ammo Liao developed a “single, multi-functional material that can simultaneously display soft, flexible, and robust textures”. […]

Categories: Interesting • Tags: ammo liao, bio-knit, environment, environmental design, footwear, Industrial design, interesting, materials, Recycling, shoes, socially responsible design, sustainability

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Interesting: Wooden Objects use End Grain to Create Intricate Patterns

July 13, 2015 by charlottedickson

Great design often results from the celebration and clever use of material properties as can be seen in this series of wooden objects designed by Royal College of Arts graduate Simin Qiu. The collection is constructed from meticulously glued 5mm sections of pine offcuts and uses the natural end grain to create intricate herringbone-style patterns. The objects themselves take simple geometric forms to balance out the intricacy of the surface patterns. By using offcuts, Qiu transforms a material that would […]

Categories: Interesting • Tags: artisan, Craft, end grain, graduate, Industrial design, Inspiration, interesting, materiality, materials, offcuts, pine, product design, RCA, Recycling, Royal College of Arts, Simin Qiu, upcycling, wood

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Interesting: Reclaimed-Surface Shelves

May 18, 2015 by charlottedickson

This series of simple wall brackets let you turn reclaimed materials into shelving and switch out the surface for an adaptable design. This is an excellent demonstration of how clever design can enhance the value of recycled materials, an idea that will be central to the work of the third year students currently collaborating with Rekindle.

Categories: Interesting • Tags: artisan, bracket, Craft, design, Industrial design, Inspiration, product design, reclaimed wood, Recycling, Rekindle, shelf, third year, timber, upcycling

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Interesting: Chinese Company 3D Prints House

April 20, 2015 by charlottedickson

Chinese company WinSun is aiming to overturn current the current building models prevalent in China which are resource intensive and environmentally unfriendly. They have begun 3D printing structures layer by layer from recycled construction waste. It is “a production model that could upend labor markets, housing markets and the entire architectural design process.” There is some controversy over the 3D printed structures and associated technologies with allegations that the technology was copied from the work of US professor Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis who […]

Categories: Interesting • Tags: 3D printing, additive manufacturing, architecture, China, contour crafting, design, environment, Future, Housing, interesting, Recycling, technology

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‘Google of Garbage’ expands in NZ

April 14, 2014 by reidadouglas

Kiwis will soon be able to recycle toothbrushes and coffee capsules thanks to the local expansion of global trash-to-treasure company TerraCycle. The US-headquartered company, often called the “Google of Garbage”, teams up with major corporations and local authorities around the world to recycle waste that would otherwise end up in landfill. “Everything can be recycled if it’s deconstructed into its raw materials,” TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky, 32, said during a […]

Categories: Interesting • Tags: Recycling, resuse, upcycling

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