Issue 3 March 2020 £3.00
COSMOPOLITAN
“Trashis a Treasure”
Trash is a Treasure Would you wear trash? 4 COSMOPOLITAN
What do you do with your rubbish? NA SEMUELS
We already turn water bottles into fleece, plastic bags into deck material, roofing into pavement. But ideas abound for more-futuristic forms of recycling. Mitchell Joachim, a co-founder of Terreform one, a design firm based in New York, proposes crushing trash and
molding it into Tetris‑esque blocks that we could use to build islands and skyscrapers. Joachim’s firm has created architectural plans for a 53-story tower made with the waste New Yorkers produce in 24 hours. A group in Guatemala called Pura Vida is already working on a
low-tech version of the same idea; it promotes the use of a building material it calls an “eco-block”—just a plastic bottle stuffed with trash—that it says makes for excellent insulation and is safe in earthquakes.
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No Idea what to do with YOUR Clutter? 6 COSMOPOLITAN
W
here once recycled items were met with snobbery, nowadays repurposing old material is in vogue and thanks to a growing awareness of sustainability issues, a booming business. It makes sense: fewer goods are created, less waste is produced and out of the discarded, something beautiful and new is born. Brand new designs from old materials And so it makes sense that the world of jewellery is turning its attention to recycled products. As well as plumping for brands that craft brand new designs from old materials they’ve carefully sourced, recycled jewellery also offers the option to make something new from items that have since been banished to the outer drawers of the jewellery box. Old fashioned heirloom pieces that have gathered a coating of dust, not-quite-right earrings and lovingly handed down jewels that slightly miss the mark can all be given a new lease of life with a careful bit of recycling. Gold bands can be melted, stones can be set in other pieces and whole new incarnations can be formed. “I believe there is enough metal above ground, we don’t need to keep mining for new metal and destroying the earth,” she says. “The concept is very simple; let’s just re-use the wealth that we already have. We don’t need to make more holes in the ground, which comes with its own environmental impact. It’s a win-win situation.”
Recycling and luxury might not seem like natural bedfellows but Arabel believes there’s no need for pre-loved materials to mean a scrimping on quality. “When we buy fine metals that come from recycled sources, the metal is exactly the same as newly mined,” she explains. “So there is literally no compromise to be made.” Refining metal That said, some people may be sceptical about whether recycled materials look as good as their new counterparts, especially where it comes to special pieces such as engagement and wedding rings. But there’s no need to worry. “Maybe in other industries it could be the case where a recycled material has less quality or retains fewer properties than a brand new one,” she explains. “This might be case with plastic, where you could only recycle it a handful of times and every time some properties get lost in the process. “But in the jewellery industry we have this wonderful process called refining metal, where we can take any precious metal and make it pure again, removing all dirt and other alloys, bringing it back to its full purity. “Metals have been re-use throughout the centuries thanks to this process. Recycled precious metals look exactly as good and shiny as newly mined one.” So there you have it, armed with a bit of information and the right designer, recycled jewellery could prove a stylish solution to sustainable jewellery.
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ECO-B
BIRTH
I
used to be an ordinary carrier bag. My life was hard, short and generally wasted. One happy day I was picked up, washed, dried, cut into little squares, melted down and born again as this surprising object. I am a unique piece of jewellery now. I am beautiful, eco-friendly and worth it! You will never find anything exactly the same as me. I am one in my own kind! My transformation gives you an extraordinary accessory to wear and a cleaner environment for generations to come.
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