According Dutch company Newaste Recycling is good, but what they do is better! Recycling is the process of retreating waste material to be able to use it again. The negative part is: you need a lot of energy for the process (Metal, aluminium), or the material will be degraded (wood, paper, stone).
They eliminate this negative point by upgrading the value of waste materials from manufacturers to up-cycle.
Heras in corporation with Newaste: rest materials become design products.
This reminds me of when I was working for a big metal bedroom manufacturer in The Netherlands. We had a huge load of metal tubes not moving for at least ten years as it was an odd rectangle shape. To get rid of this old stock I'd designed a simple double bed which was powder coated in a hammered grey to hide the rust damage and competitive priced to the Asian competition which was increasing rapidly in 2002. Ironically within no time we got rid of the stock of old metal and had to order new tubes in that shape and add single and queen size to the collection because of the demand.
This reminds me of when I was working for a big metal bedroom manufacturer in The Netherlands. We had a huge load of metal tubes not moving for at least ten years as it was an odd rectangle shape. To get rid of this old stock I'd designed a simple double bed which was powder coated in a hammered grey to hide the rust damage and competitive priced to the Asian competition which was increasing rapidly in 2002. Ironically within no time we got rid of the stock of old metal and had to order new tubes in that shape and add single and queen size to the collection because of the demand.
Thank you very much Wilma. You application, and way of thinking should be incorporated in many more wasting manufacturers.
ReplyDeletehttp://newaste.nl/blog/2013/07/23/blog-mention-o2-network-for-sustainable-designers/
It all depends on the people working at those manufacturers. If they are aware of the chances they will get them.
ReplyDeleteI have the hope that at least 75% of the students who were in my sustainable design classes will act the right way when they see it.