This lamp is a work of art that cleans the air

The Guilin Lamp-scape by SUGO uses photocatalysis technology to clean and circulate the air you breathe, eliminating 99.9% of all bacteria, such as salmonella and E. Coli, as well as impurities including carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, formaldehyde, mold and odor particles. This lamp-meets-air purifier also gives off an artsy, ambient glow that can be altered to the user’s preferences. To top it all off, the Guilin Lamp-scape is made from recyclable materials.

Low-voltage LED light shines through the rectangular, structural steel base of the lamp, bouncing off acrylic mountains made from 40% recycled plastic. The mountains are fashioned out of 5mm thick, glass fiber-reinforced photocatalytic panels placed inside three slots in the base. Switch the light on, and the acrylic mountains will absorb the illumination into laser-engraved lines. While it is designed to last, the entire lamp is 100% recyclable, and the paint covering the base is VOC-free.

Related: This lovely lampshade is made from cabbage

Consumers can shift the mountains to create unique landscapes that reflect their personal styles. More mountains can also be added to create different brightening effects, making the lamp both functional and customizable. The company suggests placing the “lamp-scape” on a reflective surface, so it resembles the feeling of looking at a mountain range behind a glossy lake.

In addition to the classic Guilin, the company has also unveiled an upgraded model called the Guilin Dawn, which uses Italian nano-tech material to transition the lamp from a lit sunset palette to near-transparency when it is turned off.

SUGO founders Kevin Chu and Giulia DiBonaventura got the idea for the lamp on a trip to the Guilin Mountains in northeastern China, where they became mesmerized by the scenery and felt compelled to pay tribute to the experience in some way. Their products are exclusively made in factories with low quantity production that follow international environmental regulation and worker’s rights unions.

The Guilin Lamp-scape recently moved to INDIEGOGO In-Demand crowdfunding as well as a Shopify store for its remaining items and future purchases.

+ Guilin Lamp-scape

Via Yanko Design

Images via SUGO

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Wood waste strengthens recycled concrete, new study finds

Research from the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science has revealed that discarded concrete can be strengthened with the addition of wood waste. This pioneering technique promises to be an environmentally friendly way to enhance concrete structures while simultaneously reducing construction costs and curtailing carbon emissions. It is hoped that this groundbreaking new method will help make better use of old concrete and any waste plant or wood materials.

With traditional methods, reusing old concrete is unfeasible. The research team’s first author, Li Liang, explained, “Just reusing the aggregate from old concrete is unsustainable, because it is the production of new cement that is driving climate change emissions.” The team, therefore, sought to find a better approach, particularly one that would “help promote the circular economy of concrete,” according to the University of Tokyo.

Related: 11 green building materials that are way better than concrete

The innovative process involves taking discarded concrete and grinding it into a powder. Wood waste is also sourced from sawdust, scrap wood and other agricultural waste. Rather than sending this wood off to landfills, it is instead leveraged in the concrete recycling process for the key ingredient, lignin. Lignin is an organic polymer that comprises wood’s vascularized tissue and accounts for wood’s rigidity.

The concrete, now in powder form, is then combined with water and the lignin to form a mixture. This mixture is both heated and pressurized, allowing for the lignin to become an adhesive that fills the gaps between the concrete particles. What results is a newly formed concrete with stronger malleability than the original concrete. Additionally, the lignin makes this new, recycled concrete more biodegradable.

“Most of the recycled products we made exhibited better bending strength than that of ordinary concrete,” said Yuya Sakai, team lead and senior author of the study. “These findings can promote a move toward a greener, more economical construction industry that not only reduces the stores of waste concrete and wood, but also helps address the issue of climate change.”

+ The University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science

Via New Atlas

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Nike reveals Space Hippie sustainable sneakers made from waste

Nike has launched a new, exploratory collection, aptly named Space Hippie, to highlight the NASA-inspired concept of in-situ resource utilization — the idea of using space-based resources during deep space exploration. By taking the company’s own “space junk” from the floors of its manufacturing warehouses, Nike is turning waste into feedstock, creating a sustainable sneaker that combines high performance with low impact.

The Space Hippie shoes are assembled using recycled “space junk”, such as recycled plastic water bottles, T-shirts and yarn scraps. The “Crater Foam” tooling is made up of a combination of Nike Grind rubber and recycled foam materials. According to Nike, every aspect of the Space Hippie line was chosen with sustainability in mind, from the material to the production methods to the packaging. The new shoes boast the lowest carbon footprint score compared to the company’s other products.

Related: Fashion companies make a pact to protect the planet

The collection includes four different shoe designs, appropriately named Space Hippie 01, 02, 03 and 04, and the styles are nothing short of unique. The sustainable sneakers feature gray bodies with complementary orange elements, including the iconic Nike Swoosh. Nike doesn’t seem to be shying away from the fact that these shoes are essentially made from trash, yet the design is still quite compelling, fashion-forward and (unsurprisingly) futuristic.

Nike recently unveiled the collection, which will be released in Spring 2020 to Nike members at Nike House of Innovation flagship locations and select retailers around the country.

Nike, as a business, has a lot to gain from recycled footwear. “We must think about the entire process: how we design it, how we make it, how we use it, how we reuse it and how we cut out waste at every step,” said Seana Hannah, vice president of sustainable innovation at Nike. “These are the fundamentals of a circular mindset that inform best practices.”

+ Nike

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Recycled shipping container cafe utilizes passive cooling in India

Southeast of New Delhi, in Greater Noida City, Rahul Jain Design Lab (RJDL) has transformed recycled shipping containers into a dynamic new cafe and gathering space for ITS Dental College. Named Cafe Infinity after its infinity loop shape, the building was created as an example of architecture that can be both economical and eco-friendly. The architects’ focus on sustainability has also informed the shape and positioning of the cafe for natural cooling.

Cafe Infinity serves as a recreational space for ITS Dental College students, faculty and patients. The team deliberately left the corrugated metal walls of the 40-foot-long recycled shipping containers in their raw and industrial state to highlight the building’s origins. The rigid walls of the containers also provide an interesting point of contrast to the organic landscape.

Related: Shipping container retreat in Brazil is inspired by tiny homes

“The idea of using infinity was conceived to emphasize on the infinite possibilities of using a shipping container as a structural unit, regardless of the building type and site,” the architects explained of the building’s infinity loop shape that wraps around two courtyards. “The flexibility, modularity and sustainability makes shipping containers a perfect alternate to the conventional building structures, to reduce the overall carbon footprint while also being an ecologically and economically viable solution.”

In addition to two cafe outlets and courtyards, Cafe Infinity also includes viewing decks, bathrooms, seating areas for faculty and visitors and a student lounge. To promote natural cooling, the architects turned the shipping container doors into louvers and installed them on the south side of the building to minimize unwanted solar gain while providing privacy. The building was also equipped with 50-millimeter Rockwool insulation, a mechanical cooling system, strategically placed openings and tinted windows. 

+ RJDL

Photography by Rahul Jain via RJDL

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Designer Dana Cohen creates unique, recycled fabric garments

It’s no secret that the United States wastes millions of tons of textiles every year. From fast fashion to unsustainable production to consumers simply choosing to throw out clothes instead of donating them, the environmental costs of fabric waste is starting to add up — and fast. A 2015 graduate of the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Dana Cohen is choosing ecological design methods and making waves in the sustainable fashion industry.

Cohen’s first award-winning collection, Worn Again, was developed in 2015 using recycled materials. By taking discarded fabrics and shredding them into smaller monochromatic fibers, Cohen was able to create new felted textiles out of scraps that would usually be taken to the landfill. After the process was complete, the designer was left with a completely unique knit boasting a combination of colors and patterns produced by the different original fabrics.

Related: The sustainable wardrobe — it’s more accessible than you think

The process to create these eco-textiles combines machinery and hand work to help give each piece a one-of-a-kind look. The felting process also leaves the material extremely soft and durable. The Worn Again collection won both the Fini Leitersdorf Excellence Award for Creativity and Originality in Fashion and the Rozen Award for Design and Sustainable Technologies in 2015.

In 2018, Cohen revealed the City Growth collection, which was featured in Tel Aviv Fashion Week and Vietnam International Fashion Week that same year. The collection was inspired by global urban development and the diminution of agriculture by city growth, something Cohen had seen first-hand as the daughter of a farmer. Unsurprisingly, the collection went on to also earn awards, including the Israeli Lottery Company Fashion Design Award, the “Mifal Hapais.” In 2019, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem displayed the City Grown collection as part of an exhibition on fashion statements.

The designer’s mission is to help people feel good inside and out by providing exclusive and beautiful garments that have a positive impact on society while still maintaining style. Cohen’s inspirational designs prove that recycled products can be just as fashionable (if not more) than traditional clothing items.

+ Dana Cohen

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Glowing rabbit made of 3D-printed polycarbonate pops up in a Dutch pond

Early last year, Dutch artist Titia Ex presented the North Holland town of Heemskerk with an unusual gift — a massive glowing rabbit sculpture set inside a pond. Dubbed “Bunny Lights,” the site-specific artwork was a light installation built from recycled 3D-printed polycarbonate tubes, a series of stainless steel discs and multicolored LED lights that flicker on at night. Created to symbolize “the continuity of existence,” the artwork was designed in the likeness of the dune rabbit, an animal that has long been native to the region.

As a master of experiential art, Titia Ex is known for her installations that often change depending on how they’re viewed. Her unusual art pieces are typically placed in everyday environments, such as in plazas or outside of houses and office buildings. Following this pattern, Bunny Lights was placed at a busy corner intersection in a pond near a residential development.

Related: Recycled plastic art installation asserts that water is a human right in D.C.

Weighing 1,100 kilograms (2,425 pounds) with a head that measures 5 meters (about 16 feet) in height, the gigantic sculpture added whimsy to an otherwise unremarkable site. The rabbit shape was made from stainless steel discs supported by a 3D-printed “vertebrae” of recycled polycarbonate with embedded LED lights. The lights automatically switch on at nightfall and change the color of the tubes from a dull gray to a rich rainbow of colors, from blue and green to yellow and red. The artwork also plays back recordings of waves taken at various locations, including the sea nearby.

“With its mystery, history, nature and symbolism, the native rabbit is the perfect bearer for the centuries-long intertwining of man and beast in Heemskerk in the Netherlands,” the artist explained. “She symbolizes the continuity of existence. It is a landmark in the scenery and a beacon of the existence of man and animal in its wetlands.”

+ Titia Ex

Images via Titia Ex

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Greenpeace finds most 'recyclable' plastics are sent to landfills

Greenpeace recently published a study “to determine the legitimacy of ‘recyclable’ claims and labels on consumer plastic products.” The study involved a comprehensive survey of 367 material recovery facilities (MRFs) throughout the United States. Study findings have revealed several alarming results, including that many plastics labeled as recyclable are not actually recyclable.

Recycling labels are intended to be “truthful advertising to consumers, prevention of harmful contamination in America’s recycling system, plus identification of products for elimination or redesign to reduce waste and plastic pollution.” All these product claims and labeling are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Related: China plans to phase out single-use plastics by 2025

But Greenpeace’s recent study unearthed evidence that certain plastic items are mislabeled as recyclable when, in fact, they are not. Additionally, there are particular plastics that are either entirely non-recyclable or have “negligible-to-negative value,” which accounts for them not being recycled at all, even though recycling programs might collect them.

China began restricting its importation of plastic waste about two years ago. This has prompted an urgency to domestically reorganize America’s labor-intensive sorting and reprocessing of plastic. But American waste management and recycling programs have not caught up with the astronomical plastic waste accumulation.

“Retailers and consumer goods companies across the country are frequently putting labels on their products that mislead the public and harm America’s recycling systems,” said John Hocevar, oceans campaign director at Greenpeace USA. “Instead of getting serious about moving away from single-use plastic, corporations are hiding behind pretenses that their throwaway packaging is recyclable. We know now that this is untrue. The jig is up.”

Greenpeace’s report on the misleading plastic recycling labels highlights the accelerating problem of our nation’s garbage. Just last spring, New York Times stated that amidst skyrocketing costs, “more U.S. cities have stopped recycling.”

It remains to be seen how the U.S. waste management and recycling infrastructure will feasibly evolve to counteract garbage accretion and its contamination, which could adversely affect both the environment and public health.

+ Greenpeace

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