io9: recycling

Mid-Twentieth Century Rubber Recycling

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:30:00 PDT

Those aren't missiles. They're actually used beverage containers, made of rubber, which these mid-century factory workers are recycling into devices for fighter pilots in World War II.

According to Shorpy, this photograph was taken in February 1942, in Akron, Ohio, in a Firestone Rubber facility. Accompanying the photograph is this information:

Conversion. Beverage containers to aviation oxygen cylinders. After shatterproof oxygen cylinders for high altitude flying have passed all tests in the metal division of a large Eastern rubber factory, hot air is blown through the cylinders to remove all trace of moisture. The cylinders are then sealed and stacked for painting.

It's easy to forget that recycling is hardly a new idea, even for materials like rubber. In this respect (and many others), what was futuristic in the 1940s remains futuristic now.

via Shorpy

Microwaving Old Tires to Brew Fuel

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:30:35 PST

Now you can use a microwave to transform old tires into energy. Here you see Jay Gill, an employee of New Jersey company Global Resource Corporation, doing just that using an awesomely homebrew-looking setup. The process is completely revolutionary, and the company has just announced it's about to get a ton of money to expand. But of course all we kept thinking about was how that gas chamber looked like a bong. Photos by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images. Energy from Tires [Minnesota Post-Bulletin]

Spaceship Lamp Made of Recycled Computers

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:45:09 PST

Alex Andromeda calls himself a science fiction artist who wants to connect the far future with the mystical past. He uses recycled computer parts to make lamps, sculptures, eyeglasses, and ancient Inca symbols. Here is just one of his amazing creations, a ceiling lamp made from old hard drive cases, called Spaceship Sirius. Another view after the jump.

All the artist's work is for sale, and you can also get instructional materials that help you make your own art out of recycled computer parts.

Alex Andromeda [artist's site]

Reaping the Flip Flop Harvest on Kenya's Polluted Coast

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:40:29 PST

Plastic flip flop sandals discarded in the oceans off the coast of Asia have formed a new kind of fauna on the coast of Northern Kenya. So many sandals wash ashore that over the past decade locals have begun harvesting them, turning them into colorful toys, and selling them for more money than they could make from fishing, the area's former main industry. After a 2003 documentary, Flip Flotsam, called attention to Kenya's flip flop harvests, a small nonprofit called UniqEco began methodically helping locals ply their craft via the Flip Flop Recycling Project.

According to TreeHugger:

Today, the workers behind the Flip Flop Recycling Project run the gamut from beachcombers to bead-makers and artisans and sculptors and are producing jewelry, sculptures, toys, household products and accessories. Part of the project's mission remains social — to create jobs for people with limited opportunities. Recently, the project expanded to begin reusing the garbage of low-income communities in Nairobi such as Kibera, Musongari and Ongata Ongai.

Since so much of our cultural debris is non-biodegradable, we're likely to see efforts like this proliferating. Over the next decade it may become more and more common to see plastic shoes drifting in on the tides than seaweed. Image courtesy of UniqEco.

Flipping Kenya's Coastal Flotsam [TreeHugger]