Mexican designer Fernando Laposse turns the waste from corn preparation into veneer.
Now, returning to these sustainable values has become especially important. Creative uses for what has traditionally been considered waste at home and in industrial settings are crucial at a time when China has imposed new standards on the recycled materials it takes in from other countries – leaving Canadians facing piles of garbage.
Another kind of memorable bottled elixir comes from Etat Libre d’Orange. The niche brand launched its I Am Trash perfume last year with the tagline, “The most wanted scent made from the unwanted.” It makes use of organic waste materials such as apple oil, upcycled waste from the fruit-juice industry combined with rotting fruit they composted with worms, and perfume-industry waste.
Accordingly, in Sweden, researchers are working on the creation of viable, edible bioplastic films for food packaging from the same sort of fruit waste that makes that French perfume so memorable. Other labs are testing the applications of 3-D printing on kitchen appliances, as way to reduce food waste.