In Greece, a creative initiative called Print Your City has come up with an ingenious way to recycle household plastics into utilitarian objects. WebUrbanist has the story on the “zero waste lab” that is revolutionizing the way that we can combat the scourge of throw away plastic in our society (article by SA Rogers). The brilliant effort is that of The New Raw – a Dutch research and design studio that has set out to research and design zero waste streams in communities.
The idea behind Print Your City is fascinating. People bring their household waste plastics to be ground up, which is then broken down even further and converted into durable street furniture via a 3D printer. The furniture can also incorporate planters and bike racks.
In a city like Buffalo, or any city for that matter, there is always a need for additional public seating, bike racks, planters, etc. It would be amazing if this sort of technology/programming was made available to all cities. This is not only of ultra importance as an environmental achievement, it’s also a feel good measure that residents can be proud of.