Upcycling Concepts

1. Outdoor hanging plant
The idea of this is to draw interest to the building and add a sustainable aesthetic to the exterior. Information on the different plants could be painted behind or hung so people can learn from even just passing. Locals could also buy seedlings of plants within “pots” like these to begin growing their own produce. This has been done locally with an aquaponics method to teach locals about the benefits of cyclical agriculture systems containing fish.

2. Cushions using quilted fabrics and recycled material for cushion
This product would be a great use of recyclable materials in a marketable product. By using a large number of bottles, there is a lot of waste being removed from the landfill. Possibly, to increase the strength of what the cushion could support, the bottles would be filled with plastic bags. Covering the cushion would be a means of recycling local fabric, and potentially creating a quilt out of various fabrics. Various versions of this product could be made using liter sized plastic bottles, individual sized plastic bottles, and even cans. Another potential for this product would be replacing the fabric on the outside surface (the non-circular part) with a plastic “fabric” made from ironing plastic bags together, reinforcing the fact that this is a recycled product. This could also be used as seating around Aywa’s new center.