ashortwalk are committed to sourcing and developing innovative new materials aimed at saving our wonderful planet, but at the same time providing unique, clean, beautiful products that seek to improve both our home and global environment. The entire shortwalk recycled range are hand crafted in the UK and made from vending machine coffee cups direct from the national Save-A-Cup scheme. www.save-a-cup.co.uk
At work buy one vended cup of coffee today, drink the coffee, place the plastic cup in the recycling bin, and see if it's home time on your wall clock made from plastic cups next week. The recycling loop has been closed!
The number by each product relates to the amount of coffee cups saved from landfill within each product. 100 cups equate to the volumetric size of a black household bin liner.
How do you get from a coffee cup to a clock?
Step one
At work place your used coffee cup in the recycling bin.
Step two
Your cup will be collected, cleaned and shredded.
Step three
This shredded compound is then heated and injected under high pressure into thin strips. These strips are then sliced into small pellets, ready for use on a wide range of manufacturing processes.
Step four
Under high pressure thousands of pellets are squashed between two very hot presses. After a short while the pellets have been fused together to form large flat workable sheets.
Step five
These sheets are then sanded, cut, cleaned, printed on and then assembled into a variety of lovely products for us all to enjoy.
Step six
The entire nation goes out and buys 5 or 6 of these new and clever recycled products for all their friends and family.
Interesting recycling facts
Each UK household produces over 1 tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 31 million tonnes for the UK each year
[source: Waste Watch]
Every year, the average dustbin contains enough unrealised energy for 500 baths, 3500 showers or 5,000 hours of television.
[source: www.assurre.org]
On average every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every 7 weeks
[source: Waste Watch]
Every 8 months the UK produces enough waste to fill Lake Windermere (the largest lake in England)
[source: Waste Watch]
In less than 2 hours the UK produces enough waste to fill the Albert Hall
[source: Waste Watch]
The cost of managing the municipal waste produced in England is around £1.6 billion per year
[Source: Waste not, Want not: Cabinet Office, 2002]
About ashortwalk
ashortwalk is a product design company based near Truro, Cornwall. Started in 2003 by Dan who left his previous job as a product designer/inventor at Dyson and moved to Cornwall in order to realise a long-held desire: to set up a business, and live, 'ashortwalk' from the sea.
From the humble beginnings of a shed in the back garden and a few new product ideas the business has come along way in 5 years. We now design, manufacture and supply a broad range of products for such companies as: wwf, John Lewis, Amnesty International, Oxfam, RNLI as well as over 350 independent shops in the UK.
The key to staying competitive in the global market from a shed in Cornwall has always been to design and manufacture unique, functional products. We are no longer in a shed, but our philosophy is still the same............ and most importantly we are ashortwalk from the beach. |
