The Ups and Downs of Recycling
November 22nd, 2005
This Carnegie Mellon student site has some simple “how-to’s” for what they’re calling Upcycle Art. Arts and craft recycling has often been criticized as being too far removed from the mainstream and not scaleable and doesn’t address end-of-life for these 2nd generation products. It’s my opinion that this sort of reuse is important, but only one small part of a sustainable future.
For similar work you can purchase, check out Mandana MacPherson’s products Used Rubber USA or the Swiss company Freitag.
Link via Starspirit
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November 24th, 2005 at 2:25 am
It does make me wonder though, if you employ single use items-
like the pictured zip-ties-to put together so-called recycled crafts, are you really addressing the problem of waste or just leveraging the cache of unusual materials to make something cool? That said, is there a benefit to creating this idea of recycled chic, that will extend beyond charm bracelets and serve a larger purpose ultimately? Well, I sure hope so and it is certainly catching on at least in some ways. Case in point these recycled coffee bags made into fashionable purses in Germany: http://www.coffeebag.de/CoffeeBag.php.November 24th, 2005 at 7:57 am
yeah, and not sure it really is up-cycling; it is extending the use of the materials further than one more lifetime? Will the bracelets be thrown out, too, just a little bit later?
But yay for diverting wastestreams in general…