Transmuting Cans to Lampshades: Notes from a Successful Recycling Workshop

Saturday, 29 May 2010 marked the first official day of a two week workshop oriented towards artists and designers to construct objects and prototypes out of recycled materials. Organised by Amman-based recycling company Entity Green Training, the workshop provided all the space, tools and materials necessary to create new objects out of what was previously rubbish but now will be rubbish no longer. And the first session was a success. The small but potent group of attendees began to create a range of objects from the materials provided. Theresa began immediately to cut into soda cans, curling them into a playful lampshade. Jo stitched plastic matts with the wire from discarded cables and created a partially see-through bag just large enough to carry a notebook. Belal created soda can plant holders, created a plastic ring and bracelet and found a simple but elegant way to recycle plastic mats into coasters that matched the furnishings of the room. Elliot fashioned a belt from a sheet of flexible plastic material and remelted old wax into a candle in a soda can mold with a wick from an old cloth slipper. Recycling artist Hana Faouri began to weave multicoloured plastic bags into string for sodacan and wire jewelry. And I constructed a belt from orange juice cartons and sculped a bubble-like bag out water bottle tops and clear plastic tape.
At the end of the afternoon it was easy to see that a wide range of useful objects are imminantly realisable from recycled materials given the time and space to construct them. We came empty handed and left with a pleasant feeling of surprise at what the seemingly useless discard could, in just a few hours, become. Now imagine multiplying this and expanding it across a wide scale. The best way to start? Organise a recycling workshop of your own. Deconstruct the overlooked by-products of the modern world and build yourelf startling hybrids with new applications. Your materials in this way can take on a new life, a life previously unimagined but seeable with a new creative vision.