Category Archives:Innovation

12
Sep

Spotted: Plastic Bottlecap Rainbow Mural

mural made of plastic bottlecaps

'When the Beach Met the Bay' uses plastic bottlecaps to make a statement about plastic pollution.

Did you know that even in areas that accept plastic bottles for recycling, the bottlecap often isn't recyclable?

Isn't that crazy? That means for billions of plastic bottles, there are non-recyclable plastic caps clogging the waste stream, making recycling plants less efficient as they dig them out, and eventually filling up our landfills. If you want to find out if your area accepts plastic bottlecaps for recycling, contact your local waste management department. Some places will take the bottles with the caps on, others require that you remove the caps, and some just plain can't recycle plastic bottlecaps.

Of course, the best way to avoid this problem is to skip plastic bottles all together, but somehow those suckers tend to creep in, don't they? Artist Lisa Be decided to raise awareness about the problem of plastic bottlecaps by transforming all of that trash into a beautiful rainbow mural.

The project  - called "When the Beach Met the Bay" - came out of Project Vortex, a New York group of artists looking to shine a light on plastic pollution. It's on display in Long Beach, NY and incorporates 24,000 plastic bottlecaps that kids collected just on Long Beach.

Yep - they were able to gather 24,000 plastic bottlecaps on one single beach. I think that alone speaks volumes about the plastic pollution problem, don't you?

Image via Public Art Fund

Posted:   |   Categories: Art, craftivism, Innovation, Lisa Be, plastic bottlecap, plastic bottlecap mural, plastic bottlecaps, plastic pollution, upcycling
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12
Sep

Spotted: Plastic Bottlecap Rainbow Mural

mural made of plastic bottlecaps

'When the Beach Met the Bay' uses plastic bottlecaps to make a statement about plastic pollution.

Did you know that even in areas that accept plastic bottles for recycling, the bottlecap often isn't recyclable?

Isn't that crazy? That means for billions of plastic bottles, there are non-recyclable plastic caps clogging the waste stream, making recycling plants less efficient as they dig them out, and eventually filling up our landfills. If you want to find out if your area accepts plastic bottlecaps for recycling, contact your local waste management department. Some places will take the bottles with the caps on, others require that you remove the caps, and some just plain can't recycle plastic bottlecaps.

Of course, the best way to avoid this problem is to skip plastic bottles all together, but somehow those suckers tend to creep in, don't they? Artist Lisa Be decided to raise awareness about the problem of plastic bottlecaps by transforming all of that trash into a beautiful rainbow mural.

The project  - called "When the Beach Met the Bay" - came out of Project Vortex, a New York group of artists looking to shine a light on plastic pollution. It's on display in Long Beach, NY and incorporates 24,000 plastic bottlecaps that kids collected just on Long Beach.

Yep - they were able to gather 24,000 plastic bottlecaps on one single beach. I think that alone speaks volumes about the plastic pollution problem, don't you?

Image via Public Art Fund

Posted:   |   Categories: Art, craftivism, Innovation, Lisa Be, plastic bottlecap, plastic bottlecap mural, plastic bottlecaps, plastic pollution, upcycling
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05
Mar

Spotted: Bicycle Wheel Trellis

Bicycle Wheel Trellis

We love offbeat gardening ideas around here, and this bicycle wheel trellis is just a stunning example of creative reuse!

Bike wheels are pretty durable, but a big accident can mean that your old wheel goes kaput. Maybe it gets cracked or bent too far out of shape to be trued again. Whatever the reason, once a bike wheel is dunzo, it's...dunzo. It's not easy to recycle, but just because it's not useful for pedaling anymore doesn't mean it's not useful at all!

Over at the Kirksville Permaculture Education Center, they shared a gallery of photos of this beautiful trellis. What a lovely way to reuse kicked bike wheels!

Of course, most of us don't have a a bunch of bike wheels sitting around our house, but I bet your local bike shop has lots of spent wheels laying around! Next time you're in the neighborhood, pop in! Chances are they'll be happy for you to take those off of their hands. In many places, businesses have to pay to dispose of trash and recycling, so there's a good chance you're helping them out as much as they are helping you.

The Kirksville Permaculture Education Center site didn't have instructions on how to build this trellis, but it looks super simple. Here's how I think it went down:

Materials

  • Wooden H-frame - you can buy one or build your own from reclaimed wood
  • 8 used bike wheels
  • zip ties or popped bike inner tubes

Directions

1. Stake the frame in the ground wherever you want your trellis. Make sure it's nice and secure, because those tires and the plants that grow up them are going to add a lot of weight.

2. Use your zip ties or the inner tubes to link the tires together and link the tire grids to your frame.

3. Plant something that climbs - like grapes, luffa, or beans - at the base of your structure, and watch it go!

Want to see lots more photos of the bike trellis? Click here!

Posted:   |   Categories: bicycle crafts, bike crafts, bike wheel crafts, Concept+Design, DIY, DIY garden, Gardening, Innovation, Living, upcycled garden, Yard+Garden
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15
Jan

Need a crosswalk? Make your own!

portable crosswalk

Let's face it: not every town is pedestrian-friendly. If you're driving, going a block or so out of your way feels like no big deal, but on foot it can be pretty frustrating to have to pass your destination just to cross the street at a crosswalk.

"Urban hacktivist" Florian Riviere made his renegade crosswalk to make everywhere he went more walkable. It's made from a reclaimed piece of carpet, and the artist says he was inspired by video games to reinvent his landscape.

This would be a super easy project to make, if you wanted to create your own pop up crosswalk. All you'd need are:

  • An old piece of carpet
  • White paint
  • Black paint, if your carpet's not dark enough
  • Masking tape

Just measure and tape off your stripes, paint them white, and you're set! If you need to use the black paint, just tape again when the white paint is fully dry, so you have clean lines on your finished crosswalk.

Of course, there is a question of safety here, right? Would motorists in your town stop for pedestrians on a makeshift crosswalk? Here in Atlanta, most drivers won't stop for me at proper crosswalks, even when there are signs that say "Stop for Pedestrians: It's the Law." But Atlanta drivers might be in a special category. How do you think this would go over in your town?

Posted:   |   Categories: Art, Cars+Tranportation, Concept+Design, craftivism, crosswalk, DIY, DIY crosswalk, hacktivism, Innovation, pedestrian-friendly, pedestrians, renegade crosswalk
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