Bubble Wrap - Tae Lim

Bubble Wrap
I think a lot of times we get over loads of bubble wraps from packaged
goods and don't know what to do with them. This bubble wraps become pure
trashes that I think we can upcycle this trash into furniture piece or
cushion for our home.

Posted for Tae

Up recycle Materials

I think this is the easiest way of recycling materials. It doesn't require any complicated processes. All you have to do is to tie PET bottles together and fix them with wires. The beauty of this product is its simplicity. I really like how they use the material as it is and take the advantage of its characteristic. The visual complexity created by PET bottle helps its functionality as a divider without loosing office's modern atomospher.

chairs

newspaper we read everyday, so it is easy to get it to make upcrycle products. because newspaper is very flexible easy to make products. Newspaper already have color on it, so it can provide playful vision for products.

Wiener Bench - Upcycling

This bright pink bench on wheels is both fun and comfortable. It is made up of old used sweaters that people were throwing away, along with a pair of old used t-shirt sheets and several things I picked from the trash on garbage night.

Upcycle Art — DIY Re-manufacturing

it would appear that Upcycle Art should’ve entered our Weird Eco Habits contest, because the results of their work are certainly outside the normal realm. The term ‘upcycle’ was selected to indicate that material from a discarded product can be repurposed into a new product, without being ground-up in the vast industrial process that is recycling. The pic here shows a lamp made from soda bottles. But visit the site and you’ll also be treated to very comprehensive step-by-step instructions (with photos) on how to make garbage bag compactors, mini light sabres, wallets, CD cases and bracelets from the likes of milk cartons, film canisters, juice containers and soda can ring pulls. While at least one of the products probably creates more waste that it saves, the overall theme of site is to inspire us to see the value of materials in a product that has passed its prime. Includes a short treatise on what normally happens to packaging, with spelling that is a quirky as the upcycle products.

The Praecius Table

The Praecius table is based on precise design by strictly conforming to natural pattern. The set of concentric black and white squares conform to a 1.0 Fibonacci series found in nature like the petal structure of flowers and the spirals of galaxies. This natural balance is relaxing and pleasing to the eye. Matching conference, dining and end tables available.

Materials : Reclaimed and upcycled wood. Repurposed composite materials. Black, white and clear lacquer.

Dimensions : 32 x 32 x 19"(h)

Upcycling material

I was thinking about make jewelry or something fashioning with the cover of the bottles, there is a lot of waste with this material and it could be a recycle material to be use for new designs.

bic bic.

i was thinking about how the very basic ballpoint pens, specifically bic brand, are often used and then just tossed away. a lot of the restaurants that i've worked at use these pens simply because they're cheap. once they're out, toss them. however, if there was a way for them to be recycled or made into something else that has nothing to do whatsoever with their intended purpose, i thought it could be pretty interesting. otherwise, they're only adding to the junk in landfills.

VITAMIN WATER WALLETS

my friend sophia from the illustration department has actually been making these wallets out of the wrappers of vitamin water bottles since they first came to the market.  The process of making this exciting wallet is quite interesting and easy.  first you collect the the 3 colors of your choices then she does the rest by hand sewing, laminating and that's about it.

here are some photos of the finishing project, i had this for about 2 years now so it's kind of beat.

btw if any of you guys want one, it is 10 dollars a piece.

UPGRADE YOUR BATTERY

Batteries are extremely hazardous to the environment. Most batteries are improperly disposed of and sit in our landfill destroying our land and water. Batteries are a pollutant that can be prevented if properly disposed and taken care of. Therefore I propose that batteries would be the perfect landfill waste to upcycle or even recycle. To help people know that batteries can be recycled and properly disposed of would help take the world one step closer to becoming a little cleaner.

Shredded Paper

It turns out that paper shredders cut the paper into strips too small to survive through the sorting at a recycling facility. They might even clog the system by getting into the parts of the machinery and therefore, shredded paper is NOT recyclable. So, it would not be a bad idea to do something with all of this shredded paper instead of making hamster beds or compost. Here is a picture of someone (no name found for crediting) who used it for.... art(?)

Recycled Materials Proposal: Excess Fabric

When fashion is mass produced, there is often several layers of fabric laid up and cut out according to a pattern. Most of the time the pattern pieces can not be laid up without leaving several areas of waste in between. I would like to obtain the waste pieces of fabric from several different articles of clothing, and use them to create a new textile. Ideally, the pieces could be sewn together to take best advantage of different colours, textures, patterns, etc. Once the pieces were all sewn together, the fabric could be trimmed into a standard bolt length and resold as a 'new' textile.



Near the beginning you can see how the fabric is rolled out in layers, and then cut out according to the pattern piece.

Glass Recycling, Cullet, Abrasives and Powdered Glass

Strategic Materials, Inc. - Glass Recycling, Cullet, Abrasives and Powdered Glass

Provides glass cullett - ground up recycled glass

Upcycling Art by Schimmel Art

Sandhi Schimmel Gold, use letters or flyers from the mail as well as waist magazines to construct her art. First she paints the piece out, than she find and match the color she want on the canvas. By doing so all the waist will further become an expensive piece of art work.


Go to watch a clip on : Fox News
Go to the web site : Schimmel Art

Packaging Upcycling

I came across two very interesting ideas that involve the reconstruction of some sort of packaging.

The first one is from Upcycle Art. The website, as the name suggests, is dedicated to innovative diy upcycling ideas. Among the many projects that are listed here, there is a section designed with milk cartons. The material used for milk cartons is "a high grade heavy weight paper... laminated for water proofing [which] makes it harder to recycle them." Even if we were to recycle it, it would most likely to be downcycled.
**more info on recycling of milk cartons and other common materials here**






The second one that caught my attention is from the designer Tim Fraser Brown's website (you can find it under portfolio -> Idea*). The concept is to transform a package into a product with no adhesives. It is also to be deconstructed when desired.







I want to explore more into the feasibility of the milk carton projects and the functionality of the latter.

Above is a switch box. They have circle punchouts all around the box. They are there so you can keep it enclosed except for the area where wiring is supposed to go through. I can see all those little circles that normally get thrown out to be used in various ways. I bought one at Home Depot to work with and explore.

Duct Tape Wallet become Beautiful

I came across the Db Clay company on the internet and saw their wallet collections and was amazed by how duct tape wallet can become. The material the company use is call "Tope" that is made from non-toxic raw materials while having no "hazardous chemicals typically found in most vinyl-based product."1

The company also claim the material are produced away from dioxin, heavy metal or phthalate pollution and it would decompose when being buried.

The ink they use to print on material is also non toxic ink so the whole manufacturing process is eco friendly.

They even have duct tape kit and booklet show you have to do a duct tape wallet yourself.

Their website is http://ww2.dbclay.com/

1. Source from Dbclay company website

Brett Allcorn: Post Industrial Waste Product Proposal

I'm heading in the packaging direction since it seems like there is a lot of opportunity there, especially after the information on HP packaging laptops in cases. Very cool. So I felt like there were three directions to go:

1) Saves material
2) Saves material + protects the product
3) Has a secondary use e.g.

One idea was just a latex coating that could be peeled off. Plastic is also an option or perhaps a recycled material.



















(example of latex coating on work gloves)

Just this simple coating wouldn't work well for fragile items like consumer electronics.














(air pack packaging used by Amazon.com)

Packaging electronics sandwiched between two air packs like the ones shown above would really cut down on packaging. Whats great is these packs can be any color and you can print on them. So there can still be graphics on the front of the package and information or directions on the back. It takes up some space but really its 4 sheets of superthin plastic put together the right way. Why not use air to our advantage? There's plenty of it and its free.

The third direction is that it has some sort of secondary use like the laptop bag. I also found a good example of secondary use packaging here:



















(bug repellent and apple packaging)

While packaging apples might be an unnecessary use of materials the package has the added benefit of keeping bugs away until the apple is ready to be picked. So there is a lot of opportunity in that.


My concerns:
The contest doesn't require you to use post consumer/industrial waste or to use recycled materials, however that doesn't really seem to be the goal of the class. If we're required to use these types of materials I would like to know that.

Reducing energy consumption

Left, Pull-Tab purse by Escama
Right, vintage record bowl
Both design using well known objects. There is better way to re-use material, for example, Pull-Tab purse using aluminum tab of can. This design reduses recycling energy and waste of aluminum. Sometimes, it is better to use disposed materials directly.

Past to Present

RECYCLED CASSETTE COIN PURSE

This is a simple idea that transforming to different good using old analog media case.
The point is using disposed old media, and this is a gread example of how transfer the icon of material to useful good.






Upcycle Art
this is also good example of instruction.