Upcyling Soda Bottles: Just Forget It

BottleMill

In the highly ideal world of tomorrow, we’ll have forgotten all about soda bottles.

Oh, we’ll remember they used to exist and what they were for. We’ll know we made and discarded an incredible amount of them. We’ll have finally weaned ourselves off the bottle, so much so that we won’t recognise the name – even though they’re still very much around.

“Soda bottles”? Oh, what they make lampshades from? The same material as greenhouse walls, watering cans and homemade windmills (pictured)?  Like my zip-up purse, then?

You mean…the arms of coat hangers?

bottle hangers

(They used to make hanger arms from polystyrene foam? That’s just nasty).

Like all the best ideas, the Rethink Concepts Hanger from designer Xuan Yu seems obvious in retrospect. It tackles our PET infestation by upcycling two of the little blighters into lightweight, well-padded hanger arms. All you buy is the hook – and when you do so, 10% of the sale price goes to helping people slake their thirst in developing nations. (And try upcycling to the max by hanging recycled polyester garments on them).

And to think, these…plastic tube-like things get thrown away. (Whatever they’re called. I forget).

Images: noquedanblogs

Mike Sowden

Mike Sowden is a freelance writer based in the north of England, obsessed with travel, storytelling and terrifyingly strong coffee. He has written for online & offline publications including Mashable, Matador Network and the San Francisco Chronicle, and his work has been linked to by Lonely Planet, World Hum and Lifehacker. If all the world is a stage, he keeps tripping over scenery & getting tangled in the curtain - but he's just fine with that.