My project is going to called Remnants. And is about the recycling of plastic and other found materials.
Remnants is an experimental design project and a showcase of my personal commitment to combating single-use plastic waste. The project explores the functionality of using discarded or waste plastic bottles as a means for joining materials together.
These objects once brought together, create their own unique conversations though becoming something new, while still displaying the remnant of what they used to be.
These objects once brought together, create their own unique conversations though becoming something new, while still displaying the remnant of what they used to be.
Bottles polluting the natural environment are collected and cleaned and once the top and bottom of the bottles have been removed, they are turned into tubes or shredded into plastic joining rope. These techniques enables the bottles to be used as a joining mechanism to bind materials together.
In short, the plastics can then be threaded through or around another material and then heated to shrink the plastic and firmly bind the materials in place. A simple plastic bottle is transformed into a bonding agent, giving us all a free and accessible way to build functional structures, whilst saving the environment.
Every structure created in this project is unique in itself as each bottle and the materials have all come from different places, retrieved from the natural surroundings they were spoiling.
These waste materials are easily collected in cities, for example London, but this waste is found nationally and even worldwide. It is left lying around on the paths and cycle routes, outside homes and litters the streets, just waiting for someone to give purpose to it.
Remnants hopes to encourage and empower other people to use design and creativity as a method of tackling plastic waste. This joining method is a starting point in a unique conversation to get involved in the project and apply it to places that could benefit from it.
This could start anywhere. Why not at home? Maybe you need a new piece of furniture but cannot afford it. Why not build it yourself using the joining technique? In some countries “Remnants” could make a huge difference, promoting environmental change and empowering people through making inaccessible items like furniture and tools cheap and available.
Alternatively, you need some tools or a new leg for an old chair. Make them. The only limiting factor is imagination. The plastic joining rope and tube can bind many forms and is only restricted by the materials at hand, meaning building structures can be done from all appropriate materials.
Each Remnant houses an array of irregular and spontaneous attributes discarded by humans, which when brought together by this technique create their own narrative and history.