Idea's for Scrapstore

This is an example of my mindmap.

Advert
Pile of scrap being manipulated by the public showing what different people make of it and promoting re-use.
Stop motion animation of one piece of scrap turning into a work of art.
Journey of scrap, one possibility to a landfill site and one to a 'playpod'.

Sculpture
Small sculptures made of scrap to sell for charity.

Flash-make
Organised event on social networking sites to get public involved with using scrap to make things.

Theater donations
Partner with theaters charity shops to get dress up clothes for the children.

Leaflet and poster
Appealing poster to get companies to donate scrap

Scrapstore visit

We visited the Scrapstore company in Bristol. This was very exiting to me as it reminded me of being a child and playing with creative things. First we looked around the store and all the scrap. The amount of scrap filled a warehouse and came in all shapes and sizes from buttons to curtains. I took pictures as I walked around and asked a few of the customers some questions. There are over 1400 clients and member groups such as schools and brownies, so it seemed important to get their opinion of Scrapstore.

Interviews

guide leader
this lady was collecting material for a craft weekend with the guides to make dresses.

Hambrook Primary School
They were collecting materials and fabrics for a collage and spring windows
"we tend to just leave the materials out and let the children experiment."

I talked to some of the people who worked there to find out the routine for scrap. First Charlie will communicate with the companies who supply the scrap. Then Dave will pick up the items which are non-toxic, non-sharp and non-breakable. Back at the warehouse James and Darren will then sort through the items. I was told they try to never throw anything away.

After walking around John Pedlington talked to us about the Scrapstore, he explained the main aim is to re-use not re-cycle. They have over 60 suppliers which all donate scrap to the Scrapstore but are looking for more. He explained about the 'playpods' project in which scrap is given to children on lunchtimes and breaks to play with. They also work with 4 children's charities and other companies such as BAND, White Designs and the Better Food Company. I also found out they have solar panels installed on the roof.

Slogan "Turning waste things into play things"

On the way home I thought of different projects I could do.
-3d project
-sculpture/collage
-model
-film/advert
-social networking page
-chain reaction film
-clothes bins
-leaflet/poster
-animation

I have decided I would like to work with Scrapstore.

Bath College meeting

Today we met with Lynn Scragg who told us that the college doesn't recycle as much as it could to. she said the college uses huge amounts of paper and paper cups in particular.

Ideas I thought of for the college project were to use recycling bins in the college, host a national green week in college, limit the amount of printing pupils can use, recycle the cafeteria waste and waste from the construction centre of the college and other sections, the college could install printing and photocopying reminders or printing charges to make you really think how much you are using, also recycling old equipment or using recycled paper to make the college handbooks.

Oxfam meeting

Today we met with Niel James from Oxfam. He explained Oxfam as a company and their worldwide mission to provide aid. The bigger picture and worldwide scale of this company appealed to me and the idea of working with them seemed rewarding. The speech was short and sweet and the general brief was to reuse clothing which had been donated to create sale-able items. He explained the donation and filter technique of good and poor quality clothes. I asked him what happened to clothes that were not in a good enough condition to sell and he told me they were sent to other branches of Oxfam or other companies who can recycle the material. He explained there were a wide variety of goods received from the public and most of these were handed to lower branches. The branch we visited today was classed as a boutique and sold higher quality goods. Niel explained most of the staff were volunteers. He explained that he would like for us to find a use for clothing which was possibly stained or ripped. A good opportunity to show what we made or to just visit was the Oxfam fashion show event hosted by Bath Uni students.

From the meeting today I don't think there is a lot of scope to what you can do and you need to be confident in fashion and tailoring clothes. Some ideas I came up with were to reuse buttons and zips from items of a poor quality to repair or redesign damaged items of a higher quality. I thought I could create a sculpture or piece of artwork from poor materials and zips and buttons taken from old clothing. I also thought that if the clothes were to poor to reuse they could be given to the homeless.

Oxfam research

Source- website

what they recycle:
-Clothing
-Shoes
-Books
-Home ware
-Cd's
-Dvd's
-Electrical equipment

I found out that Oxfam aim on helping people in crisis in many countries around the world. They campaign for change work in emergency response and developmental work.
Some of the issues Oxfam works with are:-
-Climate change
-Conflict
-Natural disasters
-Health
-Education
-Debt
-Aid
-Gender equality
-Human rights
-Trade
-Poverty
-Private sector
-Global economic crisis

BANES presentation

Today we met with Lorinda Coombes and Tim Rawlings from BANES. They provided us with a very detailed presentation of what they do and the importance of recycling.
I learned that BANES recycles;
Cans
aerosols
foils
car batteries
cardboard
engine oil
food tins
glass bottles
jars
batteries
mobile phones
paper
plastic
spectacles
textiles
shoes.

Responses to my questions:

What do you do with recycled materials?
Some get sent abroad, some get sent to other companies and some are made into other items.

Do you make items for companies or the public?
Both, waste is sent to be made and reused ready for sale. (At this point i received a pencil made from a paper cup and a bookmark made from part of a tyre!)

Is it cost effective to recycle and how do you manage budgets and funds?
Taxes and government funds are used to pay for recycling. Some buyers can be found for materials and it is cheaper to recycle than actually use landfills!

How do you think we can help?
recycle batteries and household electronic items, they are not recycled enough. sort through your recycling properly to create a better quality of materials.

Do you get other companies involved with recycling or encourage them to recycle?
We try to encourage companies to use recycled materials within their products.

What material do you recycle the most and what are the uses of it?
Paper goes to Kent and is made into newspapers or can be sent to Europe and made into a newspaper in only 7 days!

Notes
-BANES are friends of the earth
-43% of what is thrown away is recycled
-Landfill sites in Buckinghamshire are used to throw away what can't be recycled.
-Shortwood is now used which results in less carbon emissions.
-Waste food in landfill sites is creating methane increasing climate change.
-We are being encouraged to recycle more by the increasing cost of landfill sites.
-Supermarkets have now introduced reusable bags.
-You can now recycle more types of plastic.
-Food waste is a massive problem it is a waste of resources and a source of methane.
-BANES has designed mini food bins for the household which will allow waste food to be used as compost.

From the meeting today I have come up with some ideas specific to BANES
-Advertising campaign
-Recycling bins in public areas
-Short video/documentary on recycling and new bins for food
-Short animation on recycling
-Food recycling bins around the college
-Poster or leaflet

Preparation for meeting with Bath and North East Somerset

In preparation for the meeting with BANES i have wrote down some questions in a sketchbook I hope they can answer and looked at their website for a brief idea of what they do.
Questions to ask:
What do you do with recyclable materials?
Do you make items for companies or the public.
Is it cost effective to recycle and how do you manage budgets and funds.
How do you think the general public can improve and what can we do at home to help?
Do you get other companies involved with recycling or encourage them to recycle?
What material do you recycle the most and what are the uses of it?

Research

I found this information from a book in the library

The green checklist for designers
#Always use the minimum amount of material to perform the task safely
#use as few material types as possible
#consider where the materials are to be sourced
#use recycled materials where possible
#make the package as light as possible without compromising safety
#consider how the pack is to be used and disposed of
consider all packaging options e.g. refuse, refill, compost
#if possible, utilise the product strengths in the package to reduce material use.
#Consider the products use and design appropriately
#consider the need and use of inks
#design for easy dis-assembly
#assist in the identification of different materials.
#promote responsible use, reuse and disposal of your pack.
#consider legal legislation
#consider local waste management, strengths and weaknesses eg. collection recycling
#consider the transportation of the product to and from use.
#consider how manufacturing value can be retained by subsequent uses eg bottles as bricks
#consider the manufacturing process and how material s and cost savings can be achieved.
#always consider the simple solution
#small is beautiful
#ask yourself what the world would be like if everyone used this packaging.

reponse to the project brief

The brief seems to be quite challenging and my initial ideas were in direct relation to the environment and saving energy. My first thoughts were about recycling materials from hospitals or other companies to create new products or equipment for them, I think if I could find someone in the medical profession to interview this would give me an interesting position on the subject. I thought of recycling paper and card to make disposable bowls or containers. As i used to work for the company 'Asda' I am very much aware of the huge amount of waste they create each day. Although they do recycle cardboard there are limitations around food which means it must be thrown away which is not only a huge waste but is also harming the environment. It may be worth finding out what happens to all of the waste as I imagine it could be used as compost of to feed livestock in farms. The other problem surrounding supermarkets is the amount of packaging they use. I could try and create a new type of recycled bio-degradable packaging or help a company promote it if they already make/use it. Living in two areas has allowed me to see the condition of different areas. Where I used to live in Bristol has an excellent recycling system where as where I live now in Bath is not as good, you get a very small bin. I think I could show people other ways of recycling or design a new kind of bin for things other than the conventional waste.
I have also noticed the canal in bath is very dirty and full of things like trolleys and cars and it would be interesting to see the Ph of the water, if it is poisonous and explore what I can do to help. I had a few creative ideas such as creating sculptures out of scrap found around bath, this would raise peoples awareness of what we are doing to the environment. I think also that local or name-brand shops could could get involved recycling clothes or shoes. I think renewable energy is very important. I think we should use less energy where we can and would like to do so more in my own lifestyle, I think a good idea for a project is talking to companies who use renewable energy and creating an advert to persuade others to.
I also enjoy the program scrapheap challenge and think we could work together in a group to plan and run an event involving the public with scrap and how it can be reuse and doesn't need to be thrown away.
I thought a good idea to capture the public's attention would be to create small sculpture type awards and have them signed by celebrities and auctioned to the public for charity, this would raise awareness of scrap and recycling.
I also thought of making a short film or animation promoting use of renewable energies or recycling.

recycling- topics of discussion

In this session we brainstormed companies we thought produced a lot of waste, and different companies we associated with recycling. For instance I knew from experience the company 'Asda' produced a huge amount of waste where as companies such as 'Envirophone' recycle old phones helping the environment. We looked at how transport effected the environment and alternative methods of transport. Some-one mentioned how they had seen an advert for bikes you could borrow to get around rather than purchasing your own or getting in your car. We also got onto the subject of ethics and morals surrounding recycling, Highlighting the amount of waste we as a community get through and how much of it could be recycled. We thought about the effect on the environment which has happened and is still happening. Another topic we touched on was sustainability, it seemed many people knew of sustainable energy but few people actually used it. some we thought of were hydraulic and solar energy.

Charlie then asked us to take these idea's and thoughts and come up with some ways to help the environment or raise awareness of the global situation. My first thoughts were very local such as cleaning out the local canal but soon spread to globalised theories of recycled materials to make hospital equipment from. some ideas the group came up with were; making a home for the homeless with recycled materials and although a huge project this would be very rewarding, alternative transport campaigns, designing a carrier bag alternative and one of my favourites was recycling waste and scrap to make musical instruments or something educational.

I next created a plan of action to get a wider view of companies views on recycling. I wanted to write a survey or questionnaire to send to different companies to determine either how i could help them to recycle or help them in their mission to recycle. I was also interested to see what the public thought of recycling so decided to organise a few questions i could ask the public.

Project Brief

Creative people often work with local authorities and communities. This unit will give you the opportunity to do that, developing creative work in a social context, linked to the theme of sustainability through recycling. The main requirement is that you interact with other people to produce your work, the extent and quality of that interaction is the key to success for this unit.