Tag Archives: recycled plastic

This ordinary looking gadget transforms plastic bags and soft plastics into bricks

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For people who like saving things up like plastic bags and other single-use bags for future use, chances are you actually won’t be using more than half of them anytime soon. You end up having a lot of plastic bags inside other plastic bags until you finally decide to get rid of them, therefore adding up to all the plastic pollution if you don’t bring it to a recycling center. Not all places have a center nearby so they most likely end up in the trash and don’t get recycled. What if you had a machine in your house that can help you take a convenient first step in the recycling process?

Designer: Clear Drop

That’s the idea behind the Soft Plastic Compactor, a machine that is meant for houses or small buildings that turn these plastic bags and other soft plastics into bricks. These bricks can then be stored and eventually brought to recycling centers where they will be broken apart and then sorted and eventually be recycled. Turning them into bricks will make it easier to transport and turned over to those who actually know how to further recycle these materials.

The SPC looks like a trash compactor and should not take up that much space in your kitchen or wherever you sort your trash. It’s also pretty easy to use as you just need to feed in the plastic bags and other soft plastics into the machine and it will then turn them into a solid cube. What actually holds them together is a thin layer of melted plastic. The final product look like just any other bricks expect that it’s made from plastic. There’s no other use for the bricks except to bring to these recycled centers.

Clear Drop says that they will be working with recycling facilities first to help them understand how they can break open these bricks. They will not be selling the Soft Plastic Compactors without the participation of said facilities. They also assured users that there will not be any unhealthy fumes that do not meet the safety regulations. This is a handy device to have if you have a lot of plastic or you regularly have them at your home.

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Clothespin-inspired mechanical pencil is sustainably made from 100% recycled plastic

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Sandwiching the lead between its two halves, the PENTAPA is a relatively simple yet cool piece of stationery that’s also good for the environment. Analogous to a clothespin, the mechanical pencil uses a single-body design that’s made entirely from recycled plastic, dispelling the myth that plastic stationery should feel cheap and be disposable. “Plastic is good if it is used wisely and long-lasting”, says PENTAPA’s designer Konstantin Diehl.

Designer: Konstantin Diehl

Designed to be used pretty much the same way a clothespin is, PENTAPA holds onto leads (or even crayons) the way the pins secure clothes on a clothesline to dry. To load or unload a lead, all you do is apply pressure on the rear pegs and the compliant mechanism causes the front to spread open. Add your lead, release the pegs, adjust its height to ensure you’ve got the right amount of lead peeking out of the front and begin writing!

The best part, however, is the fact that each PENTAPA is made from recycled plastic. While regular pens (yes, even disposable ones) can use a variety of virgin plastic types, with expensive tooling, tolerances, and a lot of wastage as a result, PENTAPA simplifies the entire process by using plastic that was originally meant to be discarded. The plastic is melted and poured into a wooden mold and removed after it’s solidified.

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Sony LinkBuds S in Earth Blue is designed to help keep the Earth green

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TWS or Truly Wireless Stereo earbuds have now become almost a necessity for anyone that has a smartphone these days, thanks to the retirement of the headphone jack. While it does reduce the number of cables produced for typical wired earphones, especially for phones that don’t ship with a pair, it also means that there are more electronics being made each year. These products normally make use of plenty of plastic, even in small devices like earbuds and their charging cases. The somewhat good news is that manufacturers are becoming more aware of their effects and responsibilities when it comes to the environment, which is why Sony is launching a new option for its latest TWS earbuds that tries to help reduce the damage, even in small doses.

Designer: Sony

Compared to earphones whose cables regularly get tangled up, wireless earbuds are more convenient to use and carry around. Their diminutive sizes, however, also make them too easy to lose as well. And when one piece goes missing, it’s pretty inconvenient to use the buds, even if it’s possible to only use a single one for one ear. Unless you’ve heavily invested in a rather pricey pair, chances are you’ll just end up buying a new one and simply discarding the incomplete set. That’s great for users and companies but not so much for the planet.

Sony seems to have the right idea by introducing the new Earth Blue color option for its LinkBuds S TWS earbuds. Rather than just a different splash of paint, the buds are Sony’s eco-friendly option for more conscientious music lovers. While the headphones themselves do still have your typical electronic components, parts of it are made with recycled materials from automobile parts. To some extent, that helps reduce the number of new parts that have to be made and the raw materials that have to be consumed for each and every pair.

The more interesting aspect of these more sustainable earbuds is their charging case. The case and some parts of the buds themselves are made from recycled water bottle materials, which also happens to give them a unique marble pattern. It’s a design that could remind one of seas and oceans, which is probably the effect that Sony is aiming for. Along those lines, the company is also committing to support ocean conservation activities through donations to NGOs.

While Sony does deserve some praise for its attempt to make a sustainable product more accessible and more attractive, it sadly comes a bit short of making a bigger commitment in that regard. The Earth Blue option, after all, is just one out of four colorways, and limiting the recycled materials to just one color means that it won’t appeal to those who don’t like Blue. It would definitely be better if these materials were made available on all LinkBuds S models, but, as it stands, that’s as far as Sony is willing to go for now.

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Acer Chromebook Vero 514 makes a huge leap in sustainability

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Consumer electronics are hardly the most sustainable products on the planet. In addition to the tremendous use of plastics and the electricity they consume, the industry is hell-bent on encouraging people to just buy newer stuff even if their current devices are still serviceable. Worse, there are systems in place that make it almost too inconvenient to continue using aging products through repairs and upgrades. Fortunately, the past few years have seen a rise in awareness of how the destruction of the planet would be bad for business in the long run, pushing manufacturers to lay out their plans to help reduce their negative impact on the environment. Building on the Earthion initiative it announced last year, Acer has come out with a new Chromebook brandishing its eco-friendly Vero brand as its most sustainable laptop yet.

Designer: Acer

Acer made big waves last year when it debuted two sustainability efforts. Earthion is the company’s overarching program to integrate eco-friendly strategies across its many product lines, covering the entire production pipeline from sourcing materials to packaging design to logistics. From Earthion came Acer’s Vero line of eco-conscious devices that now include not just laptops but also monitors, accessories, and even projectors. The new Acer Chromebook Vero 514 is the latest to be added to that family, showcasing advances that the company has made toward its green goals.

It is nearly impossible for computers and smartphones to completely remove the use of plastics, so manufacturers can only mitigate the situation by using post-consumer recycled or PCR plastics. In that light, the Chromebook Vero 514 boasts that the plastic in its chassis and bezels around the screen are made from 30% PCR plastic, while keycaps have it at 50%. In addition, the material used for its internal fan housing and “OceanGlass” touchpad use recycled ocean-bound plastics to help reduce pollution in our waters.

More than just its composition, Acer made this new laptop also more recyclable and repair-friendly to prolong its life. The use of standard screws will make repairs and upgrades easier, and the paint-free chassis is 99% recyclable. Even the packaging, which people tend to take for granted, takes part in the sustainability game. The box is made from 90% recycled paper, and the notebook bag and keyboard sheet are made from 100% recycled plastic. The inner packaging can also be transformed into a triangular laptop stand so that nothing needs to be thrown away.

All of these eco-friendly measures would probably be pointless if the Chromebook Vero 514 wasn’t attractive enough to be bought. In addition to its durable and no-nonsense design, the Chrome OS laptop packs quite a wallop in terms of hardware, utilizing 12th-gen Intel Core processors or an option of a more power-efficient (read: slower) Intel Pentium processor. And since it uses Chrome OS, it will actually be less resource-intensive, helping prolong the laptop’s overall life.

Acer has been making big strides towards its sustainability goals, including running on 100% renewable energy by 2035. That’s still a long way to go, but every step in that direction matters. We’re still from having the perfect sustainable laptop, but the Acer Chromebook Vero 514 definitely offers one of the best combinations of performance and eco-friendly solutions that won’t make you feel short-changed for investing in a green laptop that will serve you well for years to come.

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Samsung sustainability initiative takes a step forward with Unpacked 2022 devices

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Smartphones are one of the most ubiquitous pieces of consumer electronics in the world today. An overwhelming number of people have one, some might even have two, and millions of phones are shipped every quarter. In fact, there might be too many smartphones out there in the world, and not all of them are actually in use or even in one piece. As wonderful as smartphones are, their production and disposal contribute to the worsening state of our environment, especially because of how many they are. Smartphone manufacturers have thankfully started to be more aware of their critical role in this broken ecosystem and, even better, are starting to take action. As one of the world’s biggest smartphone makers, Samsung is thankfully taking that responsibility seriously and is boasting the achievements that take it closer to its grand goal in 2025.

Designer: Samsung

From the cradle to the grave, a smartphone’s life is filled with materials and processes that harm the environment or even people. From the plastics used in electronics to the chemicals for treating different parts to the materials used in packaging, these powerful computers in our pockets and hands are almost like death traps for the planet. It’s too late to turn back, of course, so smartphone manufacturers are instead trying to reduce their negative impact little by little on all fronts. Samsung’s “Galaxy for the Planet” initiative tries to cover those different fronts, and the newest batch of devices it just announced demonstrates the progress it has made since the program was announced last year.

Samsung started with the Galaxy S22 earlier this year by using plastics made from recycled fishing nets that would have otherwise ruined our oceans and aquatic life. Since then, Samsung has expanded the use of that material to other Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy Book 2 Pro laptop and the Galaxy Tab S8 tablets. The new Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 continue that tradition and are even joined by the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. In fact, Samsung boasts that 90% of its new pro earbuds are made using recycled materials. Given its smaller size and fewer components, that is admittedly not that hard to pull off.

The company has also been trying to improve its packaging, and no, it’s not just about removing the charger. The company now uses 100% recycled paper for the packaging of its flagship phones, which does raise questions about the state of its non-flagship phone packaging. Samsung is also trying to reduce how much single-use plastic it puts inside the box, though it’s not yet ready to get rid of them entirely. Both the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 boxes are less than half the size of their original models, which results in more efficient transport and reduced carbon emissions overall.

Sooner or later, phones do reach their end of life, mostly because they no longer meet the needs of their owners. That doesn’t mean they’re completely useless, though, especially if they’re actually still functional. Rather than simply breaking these down and having them undergo recycling processes that consume a lot of water and energy, Samsung is proposing upcycling phones to serve other needs, like acting as smart home hubs or cameras. In one specific case, old Galaxy devices even become eye diagnostic tools used in underserved communities.

These small steps forward take Samsung closer to its ambitious goal for 2025, but it might still be quite a ways away from that milestone. In three years, Samsung envisions itself as having eliminated all plastics in packaging, achieved zero waste to landfill, and used recycled materials on all mobile products, not just the flagship ones. Those are lofty goals, indeed, and some might say almost impossible to reach by 2025. When it comes to sustainability, however, every step, no matter how small, counts toward healing the planet and making sure there will still be people around to buy those fancy smartphones in the future.

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Canoa is a boat-shaped lounge chair that rocks you to the soothing waves of the sea

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There are things and elements in nature that immediately make us comfortable and at ease, even just by thinking about them. A blowing breeze, the gentle pitter-patter of rain, and the rocking motion of waves are just some of the most popular examples that are easily replicated inside houses these days. Controlled fans can make you feel like a breeze is flowing through your room, while meditation music often includes sounds of rain or rivers. Recreating waves might be a bit harder, but a properly designed rocking chair could actually fit the bill. This lounge chair does, in fact, try to deliver that soothing experience, but its ties to the sea go beyond its rocking motion.

Designer: Guilherme Wentz

From the front, the chair looks pretty normal, albeit a little low and short. Walk around it just a bit, however, reveals its true form, one that is quite unique even among rocking chairs. The chair’s name clearly spells out its form and function. Canoa is Portuguese for “canoe,” and its resemblance to the water vessel is clear, even if it requires stretching the imagination a bit. The curved bottom of the chair resembles the hull of a boat, and its elongated body further reinforces that imagery. While most lounge chairs use warm tones and hues to convey feelings of comfort, Canoa employs a darker shade of blue with specks of white to represent its maritime inspiration.

The shape of the chair isn’t just for the sake of appearances, though. Low and close to the ground, the Canoa gives the feeling of almost lying down on a floater, gently swayed by rhythmic waves of the sea. Its height also gives it a bit of firmness and stability even as it rocks to and fro. It helps keep a person’s feet close to the ground as well, allowing them to come and go with ease. It would probably be easy to fall asleep on the chair with its rocking motions, which is the entire point of the design anyway.

Almost like a modern boat as well, the chair uses a mixture of aluminum and wood to form its skeleton. Foam and elastic straps provide comfortable support for your body, while aluminum and felt finishing on the bottom protect the fabric on the bottom from friction against the floor. That fabric, however, is no simple covering and gives something back to the sea that inspired this striking piece of furniture.

Beyond form and function, the Canoa also has a soul that calls out to the sea. Although made from steel and wool on the inside, the upholstery on the outside is made from WENTZ’s WE-KNIT mesh fabric. This particular material is made from 100% recycled PET bottles, particularly PET bottles that pollute our oceans. Every Canoa, then, isn’t just a beautiful and functional rocking chair but also a statement in support of sustainable practices and environmental awareness. In that sense, the lounge chair is truly born from the sea and does its fair share of saving it.

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This spaceship-like device is actually a sustainable high bay light

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We often take for granted the lighting that lets us see in the dark or sets the mood in enclosed spaces like homes and halls. Not only do we seldom pay attention to their actual design, we also rarely consider the materials they’re made of. To be fair, we do that with almost every consumer product, but lamps and lights are some of the most common products we buy. Fortunately, they are also some of the easiest products to rethink and redesign. The RAB L34, for example, gives high bay lighting a more compact and space-efficient form, and in doing so, also gives it a distinct design that seems to come straight out of sci-fi space portals and alien ships.

Designer: Glen Oross, Peter On

Most of us probably don’t think much about high bay lights compared to other forms of lighting. Being way up there, they don’t often have the chance to shine, no pun intended, in terms of visual appeal. Almost like a typical bulb, they’re seen as simple, functional products you don’t need to spend too much time on since few people look at them anyway. Unfortunately, that seems to be used as an excuse to skimp not only on design but most especially on the materials.

RAB Lighting throws conventional industry practices out the window and focuses on sustainability and product optimization. Those two goals work together in creating the L34, a high bay light whose compact design not only optimizes the space that the fixture uses but also shrinks the packaging. This has a domino effect where space savings translates into savings in materials and costs, creating a more economical and resource-conscious product.

The secret to the RAB L34 is its collapsing wing design, two articulating panels that house the LEDs on either side of the main body. When retracted, the L34 has a more compact shape which reduces the space and materials needed when packaging and shipping the high bay light. Adjusting the wing angles also allows the light to target specific areas, reducing the number of lights needed to fill up a space.

 

This, however, isn’t the only way that the bay light is sustainable. RAB also boasts that the L34 is made with up to 30% re-melted plastic that’s leftover from producing other products. The LEDs also don’t have plastic lens covers, further reducing not only the amount of plastic used but even the energy consumed in manufacturing the lights. It would be even better if the entire body is made from 100% recycled plastics, but every little bit helps, especially if the figure rises over time.

Although it isn’t breathtaking in a visual sense, the RAB L34 high bay lighting is a good example of how even simple redesigns can have a ripple effect on improving a product’s sustainability and performance. To some extent, that redesign also gives the bay light a rather distinctive form, as if suggesting that this is the lighting of the future. And when it comes to sustainability, it could very well be one.

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These bags that look like designer products are made from express packaging plastic

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Plain, monochromatic bags might be the trademark of some designer brands, but more and more accessories these days are taking on more expressive and complicated designs. Some might even look like an incoherent jumble of colors, texts, and shapes, giving bags, shirts, and apparel some personality and energy. They almost scream, given their unorthodox mix of design elements, letting everyone in the room know and acknowledge their presence. Given those trends and expectations, these bags might be head-turners and attention-grabbers in the most positive ways. It won’t be until you take a closer look, however, that you’ll realize that these bags and purposes aren’t just eye-catching; they’re also an excellent way to reuse the growing mass of plastic waste generated by our newfound online shopping habits.

Designers: Yang Hongjun, Song Jiajia, Su Yunpei, Xiao Kaixu, Lan Cuiqin

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Although it has been around for a long time now, online shopping and deliveries have really taken root in people’s consciousness over the past few years. In addition to convenience, it also generated some safety when people couldn’t go outdoors as freely as before. It created a new economy, which, in turn, also created a new source of waste. Just as we were finally starting to reduce the amount of plastic bags being used in shopping and groceries, express packaging threatens to undo all those wins.

Admittedly, it would be impossible to completely remove plastic from the equation, at least not for products shipped by the masses. As with plastics, mitigating their harmful effects on the environment is the first step in eradicating them, and that usually involves recycling them or, better yet, putting them to use in a different way. Given how distinctive these packaging plastics can be, a group of designers envisioned how they could be used as design elements to make accessories unique and distinctive.

“Re: Express Plastic to Bag” is an attempt to use the varying designs and markings of packaging plastic as a strength rather than the material’s weakness. After removing potentially private information on labels, these plastic pieces are compressed and heated to become more pliable materials that can be cut into strips. These strips of different colors and patterns are then laid out flat and once again baked to be hard enough to be used for making bags.

The final material has the texture of vegetable-tanned leather but the flexibility and water resistance of synthetic materials. A single sheet can be used to create the whole body of the bag, or modular parts can be used to easily swap out damaged areas with recycled plastics. The biggest draw is that while the bags are made from recycled materials, that fact isn’t immediately obvious until you take a close look. And instead of making the bag look cheap, the chaotic patterns and colors of the original packaging designs actually give the accessories their unique visual flavor.

This recycled plastic material has the potential to be used in more products than just handbags and purses, though. They can be used for glass pouches, covers, laptop sleeves, and more. While it does give these non-biodegradable materials a home, it would be better if we actually cut down on their use instead. But since that’s nearly impossible at this point, turning them into something useful and even beautiful is the next best thing we can do.

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Fisher-Price follows Barbie and Matchbox in the Mattel PlayBack recycling program

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Sustainability as a societal goal seems achievable, but it entails more than just knowledge of the principles. It is not enough that people, companies, organizations, and brands learn about the basics because what is more important is that those principles are put into practice. A truly sustainable environment may still be far from reach but little by little, we can start making a difference. Mattel, one of the top toymakers in the world, has launched a special program that aims to reduce waste by allowing consumers to send back toys to the company after kids are done playing with them. The idea is simple: families only need to send their Mattel toys back to the manufacturer.

Designer: Mattel

Mattel has been aiming to make its products 100% recycled or recyclable as a significant goal. Another major target is to use bio-based plastic materials in packaging and products by 2030. Mattel has already allowed some of its major sub-brands to be part of the program and accept old but usable toys. MEGA, Matchbox, and Barbie are already doing their role in the toy takeback initiative.

Returning the toys for recycling isn’t just the objective as there’s also the plan to help extend the life of these toys. 
Mattel wants to recover and reuse the materials taken from old Matter toys for future and new products. This way, the waste materials are great reduced and kept from filling landfills.

Mattel’s SVP Global Head of Sustainability and Social Impact Pamela Gill-Alabaster shared: “The Mattel PlayBack program has been eagerly received by consumers and has provided tremendous learning specific to the durability and disassembly of our products, which will aid in the future design of products made for the circular economy.” She also explained the company has started to discover new technologies in recycling and processing plastic. The future of toy production may include using old materials collected through the PlayBack program, thus helping the planet manage waste and hopefully seeing a circular economy in the toy business.

Mattel PlayBack Program Send Back Toys for Recycling

The Mattel PlayBack program is now open in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Canada. It’s been a year since its launch, and more people can participate as Fisher-Price toys are now accepted. Specifically, those non-electronic Fisher-Price toys are included and those under the Imaginext, Little People, and Laugh & Learn product series.

Mattel PlayBack Program Principles

This move means Fisher-Price joins the Barbie, Mega, and Matchbox brands in this ‘green’ effort. The Mattel PlayBack program’s main goal is to repurpose the materials into new forms. Old toys will be transformed into new ones, so there will be no sad Toy Story moments to witness.

If you have a bunch of Fisher-Price toys from Mattel and kids have already stopped playing with them, feel free to join the Mattel PlayBack program. You will receive a free shipping label to print, which you can put on the box you will be sending back to Mattel. The toy manufacturer will then check the condition of the toys, sort them, and separate them by type of material. Not all materials may be used or repurposed, but the company will still use them to convert to energy or downcycle to other plastic products. Mattel is committed to responsibly recycling and processing them, which will greatly help Mother Earth.

Mattel PlayBack Program Send Back Toys Matchbox

Mattel has already established ESG strategies (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and this PlayBack program is just one effort. It will only continue to work on its principles in circular design and product stewardship, and maybe further expand the PlayBack program. A really sustainable future is a great goal not only for Mattel but also for other big manufacturers that primarily produce plastic goods, so we’re hoping more companies will follow suit.

Mattel PlayBack Program Play Recycle Repeat

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This 3D printed machine turns plastic bottles into 3D printing threads

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Despite their dangers to the environment, the use of plastics is still on the rise. The material does have desirable properties that make it too easy to ignore their long-term harmful effects on our planet. Recycling plastic products, especially PET bottles, is always an option, but the costs and energy involved make many businesses and individuals just turn a blind eye to the growing problem. What if you could recycle these bottles on your own at home? What if you could use these PET bottles as the very material to create other things? That’s the almost perfect circular economy that this open source machine is trying to make a reality, and the machine itself is 3D printed using the very same material it recycles.

Designer: Reiten Cheng

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3D printers have democratized the manufacturing and production industry, allowing almost anyone with enough resources to create the objects of their dreams. While it’s nearly possible to use a variety of filaments as printing materials, the most common are still thermoplastics like PLA and ABS. These only add to the growing number of plastic-based products out in the wild that will eventually end up in landfills. There is now another way to get plastic filaments without having factories churn out fresh new ones.

The Polyformer looks interesting from the get-go, and its name sounds like something taken out of fictional literature. Its translucent white appearance is thanks to the fact that it is made from recycled plastic PET bottles, giving it an appearance that also speaks to its purpose. In a nutshell, the machine slices up PET bottles and melts them to turn them into filaments only 1.75 mm in diameter. These recycled plastic threads can then be used in normal 3D printers to create more things, probably with the same distinctive translucent appearance as the Polyformer.

This is a rather ingenious and creative way to reuse plastic bottles, especially if you’re the type to use a lot of plastic material in 3D printing. If this kind of upcycling becomes more popular, it could help reduce the creation of virgin plastic for the purpose of 3D printing. At the same time, it offers an alternative to the traditional way PET bottles are recycled. Although those can be done en masse, the process often requires long-distance transportation and more water and energy. This way, you can do your own small part in making sure those bottles get a second lease on life.

The best part about this 3D printed upcycling machine is that its designer has made available all the information needed to recreate it yourself. In addition to 3D printed parts, the Polyformer also utilizes components used in normal 3D printers that could be bought off the shelf. The design is also modular, making it easy to swap out parts and customize the design to one’s needs and tastes. Hopefully, the idea catches on and, like in open source software, gets improved on by the maker community so that there could be more sustainable sources for the materials that, in turn, form other products from these creative minds.

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