Trendy Trash, new uses for common trash: eco-artware Recycling Rag Newsletter

"Trash" is trendy. Spurred by environmental concern, a growing number of resourceful entrepreneurs and designers are now saving and transforming cast-offs into art and usable products from materials that might otherwise crowd landfills. Lumber made from recycled plastic and sweaters made from soda bottles are now well known eco-Cinderella's. But the list of transformed trash grows each year. Here are some new products that create functional designs from discards.

If you know of other trashformations, please let us know, too.

Coffee Grounds Piggy Bank

Architect/designer Tom Johnson, wanted to show that new materials could be made from everyday trash. A Seattle coffee addict, he knew first-hand that used coffee grounds were abundant and available. Experimenting with the grounds, he invented a light yet sturdy substance that he used to make molded piggy banks. The substance looks like dark-brown plastic. Johnson believes that with imagination and creativity we can come up with new ways of doing things to protect the environment.

Oxygen Tank Bells

After 20-30 years of constant use, sturdy steel oxygen tanks become defective and hazardous. Over-the-hill tanks are usually melted down into scrap. But for ten years, a handful of West Coast metal smiths have been breathing new life into the expired tanks. The tanks --cut in half-- produce bells with sonorous tones and are perfect for the front porch or garden.

Walt Mendenhall, one of the bell-makers, says demand is good. He expects to make 50 by Christmas. The bells weigh between 20-200 pounds and are priced from $250 to $500. For more information, see Mendenhall Studio

Bicycles Recycled

Eleven years ago, after changing a tire on his bike, Graham Bergh took the old inner tube home and used it to hang his stereo speakers. That got him thinking of other uses for bike parts. He started Resource Revival, a company that makes wine racks, bottle openers, bookends, and picture frames from bike chains, pedals, and rims.

Americans throw away about 10 million bicycles and over 40 million bicycle inner tubes a year. Resource Revival collects about 30,000 pounds of used bicycle parts from 150 bike shops in 17 states annually. To get the parts he needs, Bergh pays 20 to 50 times the scrap price. This provides a supplemental income to his suppliers. Bergh's says, "Make art, reduce waste, create jobs. Nice."

Mainstream Green Products

WorldWise®, a ten-year old company, produces environmentally- friendly products, from cat scratchers to flower pots. The company's expanding product line is sold not in eco-boutiques, but at large chain stores-W l-Mart, Home Depot, PetCo, Trader Joe's, et al..

WorldWise's cat scratching posts are made from recycled, corrugated, honeycombed-cardboard laced with organic catnip. When the cat scratcher's worn out and the catnip's no longer up to snuff, the posts can be recycled, not tossed in landfills like the ones made from carpet.

Worldwise® also makes large unbreakable terra-cotta, granite and green flowerpots from plastic shrink-wrap. A single 14-inch pot uses up more than 2500 square feet of this packaging material-enough to shrink wrap the floors of an average house.

Furniture from Recycled Wood

Tamalpais TimberWorks makes art furniture from recycled and certified eco-friendly wood. Scouring the neighborhood near his shop in San Rafael, California, owner Bill Callahan culls wood from disparate places: construction sites, wineries (discarded industrial wine and vinegar vats), and trees that have blown down. Callahan boasts that he knows the "past life" of every piece of wood the company uses.

The company has found a new source of old wood: closed military bases on the west coast. Before Tamalpais begins building furniture from this wood (old growth Douglas Fir), workers at Community Woodworks will reclaim the wood - stripping it and pulling out nails. Community Woodworks is a non-profit organization in Oakland California that hires and trains mostly unskilled people and provides each with a living wage.

Design Competition Opens for Environmentally Conscious Products

The 5th annual International Design Resource Awards Competition is accepting entries for furniture, lighting, consumer products, building components, clothing, packaging design, and built environments using recycled and sustainable materials. It is the only international competition of its kind.

Entries must be received by February 1, 2001. Student and Professional submissions will be juried separately by an international panel of judges.

Winning designs will be shown in an Awards Exhibit in Seattle, Washington, on Earth Day 2001. Other shows are planned for Australia, Japan, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Winning entries will be reviewed by Norm Thompson Inc. for potential production.

Entry information is available at http://www.designresource.org/ or by faxing your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address to the Design Resource Institute at (206) 789.3144.