Waste for Life: Making Trash Useful
One of the greatest challenges and sources of opportunity for modern engineers is thinking up ways to repurpose the waste material that pervades our planet. Many organizations are already finding clever ways to tackle this issue, and this week, we’d like to introduce you to Waste for Life, a non-profit coalition of students, designers and engineers who are working in Argentina and Lesotho to upcycle waste into usable materials:
In developing nations, trash can be a valuable source of income for the world’s poor. When materials engineer Caroline Baillie visited Argentina in 2007, she was struck by the large number of “cartoneros,”: impoverished citizens scavenging the streets for glass, plastic, and cardboard to sell torecycling centers. To help these people raise their income, Baillie and her team devised a system that would allow them to manufacture new materials from waste more effectively.
Here’s how it works:
The cartoneros’ plastic waste is combined with local fibers (often waste paper or cardboard), melted and pressed to form a composite material, then reshaped using an inexpensive hot press designed by Queens University engineers, upgraded by University of Western Australia engineers, and produced locally in Argentina. The result is cost-effective building materials and products that can be sold or used in the cartoneros’ homes. The whole process not only reuses and reduces garbage, but also gives the nation’s poorest residents a more reliable source of income.
Recently, students from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) have teamed up with Waste for Life to design beautiful products from garbage-based material. In addition, the students are working on improvements to the hot press, and some may even have the opportunity to travel to Buenos Aires next year. Below are a few examples some useful items the RISD students have dreamed up:
Metro Bag designed and created by Stephanie Retz at RISD for Waste for Life
(photo: Mark Johnston)
Watch Band designed and created by Erin Knowlton at RISD for Waste for Life (photo: Mark Johnston)
Wallet designed and created by Robert Wells at RISD for Waste for Life
For a closer look at the innovative hot press that turns garbage into useful materials, see this video.
Images:paul bridgewater/Flickrwasteforlife/Flickr