So as I alluded to in the previous post, detechnologizing a product can entail taking the leftovers from a product, such as the packaging, and making it into something new with value.  (Or, at least you hope it has further worth.)  Why?  Well, given an area such as our food industry, the amount of waste created from these seemingly-unusable food containers fills our landfills.  There have been some direct innovations in products like disposable utensils, some of which are made from potatoes and are considered bio-compostable.  I think the industry has yet to make these kinds of complete changes in how they make things, so until then we have stuff we call “trash.”

And lots of it.

Even items that are deemed recyclable aren’t always put in the blue bin.  I found that according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2005 report:

we recycle less than 34 percent of plastics, 50 percent of paper and 45 percent of aluminum cans each year.

In that light, I decided to look through our recycling bin and repurpose items I found there, ones that we’re “ok” with tossing because they get recycled, although the word “reuse” comes before “recycle: in the old saying.  The victims: an empty pasta box and old computer print outs.  The print outs are a particular thorn in my side, especially given how wasteful academia makes you with the number of readings, flyers, and other things printed.  So, why not give them a renewed creativity and fresh outlook on life?

Note: These aren’t intentional product placements, and I get no royalties from them!

an ordinary shelf in the kitchen…

…provokes hunger

and thoughts of a delicious meal, but

egads!

a lesson awaits

Evaluation:

[ + ] Encourages consumers to rethink what they’re eating and tossing, given that even recycling has a (energy) cost.
[ + ] Generates new creativity from what’s no longer trash.
[ + ] Even after its second life as a sketchbook, it can still be recycled conventionally (but with all those ideas, who would?).
[ + ] Only simple things were used to create this object: a cardboard food container, scrap paper, scissors, and non-toxic white glue.
[ + ] The deception is cool.

[ - ] It’s not as beautiful as imagined.
[ - ] Different binding methods besides glue could be explored that might be more durable.  (Here, all purpose white glue was used).
[ - ] Although I tried to minimize it, the paper had to be cut down to size, therefore still creating leftovers destined for the bin.
[ - ] The second use doesn’t hold the same necessity as the first (satisfying bodily hunger vs. imaginative hunger), therefore its applications for those more needy is questionable.  (Of course, those who are needy would also not shop at Trader Joe’s.)