Most people just throw out appliances that conked out rather than shell out some cash for repairs because the former seems like the more economical choice compared to the latter. But instead of sending your old appliances to the junk yard, why don’t you let your creative juices take over and turn it into something else that you can still use?
That’s what industrial art designer Antonina did with her project called “I used to be a washing machine.”
Antonina basically took an old washing machine apart and put everything back together to build a piece of usable furniture. She provides a step-by-step guide that anyone with the basic tools (and an old washing machine) can follow to put together their own chair. They don’t look like the most comfortable of chairs, but they’re definitely some of the most creative.
Antonina hails from Jesusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.
VIA [ Dvice ]
This isn’t the first time vinyl records have been recycled and used to make something awesome. From guitar picks and clocks to coasters and photo frames, it seems like others have thought of everything. Well, almost everything, because Vinylize has thought of one more thing that can be made from old records: hipster eyewear.
The concept came about from the idea of making fashionable eyewear using recycled materials. Before the records are cut, they are first bonded with cellulose acetate to frame it.
Vinylize is based in Budapest, Hungary, and they have been making vinyl glasses for over a decade already. The sunglasses can be purchased online from their website, where each retails for about €330 (US$440).
[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmag ]
You’re already gone green in most aspects of your life. But one thing most people have difficulty greening up is food storage, because what can you use to replace plastic cling wrap? It took a while to find an answer to that question, but now that we have, it’s time to spread the word about Abeego.
Abeego is a hemp and cotton fabric that’s supposed to help make food and leftover storage easy as pie. It’s infused with beeswax, tree resin and jojoba oil so food is kept fresh when it’s wrapped in the Abeego. The fabric is malleable and slightly adhesive when it’s at room temperature, although it stiffens considerably and holds its form when it’s cooled down.
When you’re done using the Abeego, don’t throw it out. Just handwash it in cold water and it’ll be ready for you to use again once it’s dry. It comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, which you can check out here.
[via BLTD]
Everyone has broken stuff. It could be your phone, your significant other’s digital camera, a sewing machine, or a blender – it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you don’t throw it out, because there’s a chance that you might still be able to fix it. Not get it fixed, as in send it off to a repair shop, but fix it yourself.
It won’t matter if you’re not very handy with tools, either, because you might be able to find someone else to help you out at a Repair Café.
What’s the Repair Café, you might ask? Well, it’s something like a movement that sets out to reduce waste, maintain and pass on knowledge about repairing, and strengthen the community. It was started by Martine Postma, an environmental activist from Netherlands, and the initiative has since spread on to other countries like Germany and the United States.
The Café is basically a gathering place where people meet up and bring their broken stuff which range from clothing to tools and electronics. These are then repaired by a team of volunteer repairmen and repairwomen. Tools and materials that can be used to repair a range of broken goods are also available at the Café.
Repair Cafés don’t have any fixed locations, which is good in the sense that more people can benefit from them, since one could just pop up anywhere.
[via Popup City]
You know that table top and dresser you’ve been meaning to throw out for the past couple of years now? Someone could actually use that. And those old clocks and broken chairs? Someone out there is willing to take them off your hands and fix it or salvage it for parts.
Helping you connect with that someone is Trashswag.
Trashswag is an web-based app that turns collecting and recycling trash into a social activity. The Toronto-based app lets users report stuff that they’re throwing out or have seen in the streets that have been thrown out by their neighbors. Users can snap pictures of the stuff they’ve seen so that others can gauge if they’re worth picking up or recycling.
There are also a bunch of categories on the app like like furniture, wood/lumber/timber, building materials, architectural salvage or garage/yard sale to make browsing easier.
There’s no word on if or when Trashswag will come to other cities, but if you’re looking for junk on the streets of Toronto, check it out here.
[via Pop Up City]
There is a lot of garbage in the world, which is probably why Coca-Cola and will.i.am partnered up to create EKOCYCLE, an initiative that helps market gadgets, clothing and other products which use up to 100% plastic and aluminum waste as source material.
Among the products in the line are the EKOCYCLE Beats by Dre headphones – which contain 31% recycled materials, and have three different recycled PET plastics, while still delivering optimal sound.
Levi’s has created the 29% post-consumer recycled 501 Waste<Less Jeans thanks to the fact that its polyester is a byproduct of waste thermoplastics. They use an average of eight different recycled plastic bottles per pair of jeans, and Levi’s expects to repurpose over 3.5 million recycled PET plastic bottles in the Spring of this year alone.
The Barely There smartphone case from Casemate uses 100% recycled materials, and extends the life of discarded waste while protecting your shiny new tech.
These products are pretty cool, and I hope that more of our gear is made out of garbage, because there is certainly plenty left over in landfills everywhere.
[via designboom]
Every year, hundreds of millions of presents are packaged in giftwrap or presented in exquisite gift bags to the recipients. And each year, the world’s landfills just keep getting fuller and fuller.
While the ecoChici Reusable Fabric Gift Wrap is, by far, not the solution of all solutions to get rid of all this seasonal waste, it presents a fun and quirky alternative. ecoChici was thought up by graphic designer Amy Lewis, and she was able to come up with the reusable fabric gift wrap kits with the help of her husband.
The ecoChici gift wrap is available in three sizes and comes in a variety of designs. Each wrap is hand-printed in Australia and comes packaged with two ribbon clips. Wrapping gifts using the ecoChici might be confusing at first, but no worries, because each kit comes with instructions on how you’re supposed to use it.
Go green this Christmas with ecoChici. You can get them online for about $23. A Christmas Family Pack is available for $165.
[ Product Page ] VIA [ Design Milk ]
If there’s one thing that people tend to toss around a lot, it’s USB flash drives. Since they are getting so small, they can easily be lost. In order to cut down on all that electronic waste, why not get a green USB flash drive, one made out of paper?
The Intellipaper USB drive isn’t completely made out of paper, but the memory chip is printed on paper, allowing you to mail it, modify it, and cutting down on weight. It also allows for easier recycling. The memory is between 8MB and 32MB, so its aimed at sending around small batches of files, or for things like business or greeting cards, brochures and ads with data embedded into them.
Intellipaper’s USB drive was launched as an Indiegogo project to raise funds for ramping up production. Unfortunately, they’ve only raised about $300 out of a goal of $300,000, so it’s unlikely that this project will ever be made, though I’m keeping my fingers crossed for them. You’ll need to pledge at least $30 to get a box of 10 disposable thumb drives.