When a ship comes to the end of its working life, it has to be torn apart, piece-by-piece, to be disposed of. By that point, though, little care needs to be taken in getting it ashore—so they’re just intentionally run aground. This is what it looks like.
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Andy Warhol once joked that dying was the most embarrassing thing that could ever happen to a person. Many people give careful thought to what they want done with their assets after their death, even going as far as to spell out what should be done with their digital properties, but few think about some of the more embarrassing details of having been alive.
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As of last month, New York City’s Sunset Park waterfront is home to the largest commingle recycling facility in the nation. After its inaugural run on opening day, the facility shut down for some final tweaks and testing before it opens full time. During this period of maintenance, Gizmodo visited the new facility for a private tour of the process that materials go through in the new location.
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Recycling e-waste is kind of important. Our devices are full of heavy metals and toxins that probably shouldn’t just chill in landfills. But iPhone repair company Twice Used is designing housewares that put a new spin on old handsets.
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E-waste is an environmental nightmare
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As more 3D printers fire up and start chewing through plastic filament to extrude the objects of your dreams, more and more spools of PVC are going to be required to build our DIY future. And that means more plastic waste. Which, let’s face it, we have more than enough of already.
But perhaps there is a better way. U.K. charity techfortrade reckons there’s room to connect up the growing demand for 3D printing, with the surfeit of waste plastic in developing countries. The core aim: less waste and better jobs – that’s better jobs for humans, as well as more ethical 3D print jobs.
The tech-focused charity has today launched an initiative called The Ethical Filament Foundation which will aim to partner with organisations to encourage the manufacture of “ethically produced” 3D printing filament, made from recycled plastic waste – as an alternative to the standard virgin plastic spools.
The ethical element extends not just to feeding recycled waste plastic back in the 3D printer ecosystem, but to providing income stability for waste pickers in developing countries.
The Foundation is working to develop a standard for this ethical filament that can be used to certify producers, who will be able to license and display its accreditation mark. A draft of the Foundation’s guidelines can be be viewed on its website.
The Foundation notes:
This standard will ensure that social, economic and environmental requirements are met in the production of 3D printer filament. It is also hoped that this will contribute towards a general improvement in wider trading relationships with waste pickers by influencing plastic industry standards. The Ethical Filament Foundation mark will act as a quality guarantee for those companies and individual consumers wishing to purchase recycled filament.
The initiative is a welcome one – that could help instigate a wider shift in 3D printer practices. We’ve seen individual upcycling gizmos before, such as the Filabot, but as 3D printing moves from being the pastime of the maker community to something more mainstream it’s going to need more ambitious efforts to keep its dirty underbelly in check.
“After realising a gap in the market for 3D printer filament made from recycled plastic, we immediately recognised the opportunity this presents to the developing world where plastic waste is in abundance,” said William Hoyle, CEO of techfortrade, in a statement. ”The 3D printing market is growing exponentially and by making the first move into ethical filament, we hope to raise awareness about the importance of this technology and the benefits it can provide to some of the poorest people in the world. Our first step is to garner support from the 3D printing community.”
The Foundation has been founded by techfortrade in partnership with Dreambox Emergence which provides 3D printing units for community based manufacturing in Guatemala, and Michigan Technological University. Protoprint, which provides waste plastic recycling services in India – detailed in the below video – has signed up as the Foundation’s first licensed organisation.
This lion sculpture is made entirely out of old shredded tires by artist Yong Ho Ji and was spotted by Redditor m1keyth while at the Beyond Limits sculpture expo in Chatsworth, UK. All I can say is that lions look awesome made from tires. I’d love to see a dragon now too.
Who knew that tire art could look this good? We should be making tire sculptures everywhere just to stop them from going to the landfills. At least we know that if this lion ever comes to life, it is going to be able to get a firm grip on you with its claws, even in the rain.
I would hate to be the guy who has to Armor All this sucker. That would be an all day job.
You can check out numerous other awesome tire sculptures over on Yong Ho Ji’s website.
[via Geekologie]
While American consumers clamor for the latest and greatest in consumer electronics, our older digital devices are inundating and poisoning a generation of children in Ghana. Colorado Springs Gazette photographer Michael Ciaglo recently visited the largest e-waste processing site in the African nation and returned with some very damning images. That new iPhone of yours had better be worth it.
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Have you ever had a roommate who saves plastic grocery bags just in case they ever have the need to reuse the dang things? Like, hundreds of plastic grocery bags? Well, thanks to some Australian engineers, those extra bags can not only have a purpose, they can become technology of the future.
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Rarely does anyone want the last slice found at the bottom of a bag of bread. But instead of just tossing it on the ground for birds and squirrels to fight over, Israeli-based designer Nitsan Hoorgin has created a simple feeder that lets birds perch and nibble on that last slice.
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