miniwiz 小智研發

As plastics choke the planet and industries waste resources, some companies are fighting back. Pledging zero-tolerance policies for waste, eco-conscious businesses upcycle trash to make cutting-edge consumer products. These creations are elegant, functional, and forged from unconventional materials ranging from old DVDs to airline seats.
 

Upcycling is the process of reusing discarded items to make products of higher quality than the originals. For instance, tattered fishing nets can be turned into super-powered skateboards.
 

Upcycling for profit is revolutionizing entire industries. Miniwiz makes interlocking bricks from waste that soar into walls and arches of translucent beauty. Other companies turn airline seats into travel bags. Even heavyweights like Patagonia now use upcycled materials in their product lines.
 

One reason for the explosion of clever upcycling ideas is their popularity with consumers and ability to add to companies’ bottom line:
 

• An overwhelming 93% of global consumers expect brands to protect the environment.
   
• Younger consumers favor green materials; 87% of millennials say they would pay more for a sustainable product.
   
• Repurposing waste will play a huge role in the sustainability market, which is expected to reach $150 billion by 2021.
   

Here’s a roundup of a few innovative businesses and some of the best upcycling products today:
 

An Ocean Snare Becomes a Skateboard

 

A Net Plus | Giving Discarded Fishing Nets a New Start, video by Patagonia
 

Old fishing nets that drift through the ocean aren’t harmless. They entangle wildlife and leach harmful plastics.
 

Bureo, based in Chile, collects old nets and upcycles them into exciting products such as high-powered skateboards. Since their founding in 2013, the company has collected 2.6 million pounds of nets — part of the 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating through the ocean.

The fishing nets get cleaned, shredded, and molded into plastic pellets before being fashioned into a variety of products such as surfboard fins and sunglasses. Bureo has also partnered with Patagonia, which uses the fishnet plastic in their hats.
 

Bureo is also passionate about community work; they sponsor education about how to “turn off the plastic tap” and re-use old items.

 

Miniwiz’s Arthur Huang on building a multi-million dollar business from trash | Managing Asia by CNBC International TV
 

Revolutionary Interlocking Bricks at Miniwiz

Miniwiz is a Taiwanese-based company that repurposes waste into groundbreaking new materials with stunning designs.
 

One new creation is Polli-Ber Bricks. These futuristic building blocks don’t need mortar. Instead, they interlock like honeycombs to form sleek, modern shapes — from towering walls to curved arches.
 

Polli-Ber material is a strong polymer made from used lenses, water containers, and roofing combined with agricultural waste. The result is a strikingly beautiful, translucent brick that reflects colors from the surrounding environment.
 

The bricks are anchored with pins or snapped together with a groove design like Legos, but for grownups. They’re high-performance enough for load-bearing walls, but stylish enough to form elegant furniture.
 

Founded in 2005 to turn post-consumer waste into high performance materials, Miniwiz is a prime innovator in upcycling. The company has produced products ranging from ceramic sets made from recycled iPhone screens to sunglasses made from old DVDs.
 

The company’s founders say caring for nature is not just for “tree-huggers,” but is the future of design and sustainable business.
 

Airline Seats Turned into Travel Bags

When Southwest Airlines re-designed their airline seats, premium blue and tan leather enough to cover 43 acres of land was all but destined for the landfill. That’s when Portland-based Looptworks, founded in 2009, stepped in.
 

Keeping with the travel theme, the company upcycled the seat covers into stylish and durable travel bags, backpacks, and purses. The result was the “In Flight” collection, one of Looptworks’ clever upcycling ideas that “closes the loop” with repurposed materials.
 

Looptworks and their work with Southwest Airlines proves that upcycling can have a major impact. With just one product line, they prevented 6,236 pounds of materials from entering landfills, preserved 13 million gallons of water, and kept thousands of pounds of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.
 

Inventing a Better Toothbrush
 

Story of Preserve by This Built America
 

Eric Hudson always loved the outdoors and sought to protect the environment. An upcycling pioneer, he noticed that few companies were using recycled plastics to make the best upcycling products.
 

In 1996, he founded Preserve and chose the humble toothbrush as his first upcycling project.
 

Hudson felt the basic stick-like design lacked function and imagination. Working with scientists and dentists, he created a toothbrush with an easy-to-hold ergonomic handle, boar bristles, and fine nylon. Since then, Hudson has expanded his product line to include housewares, razors, and food storage containers.
 

From the start, Preserve used recycled plastic to wean customers from dependence on virgin plastic. The company’s big picture goal is to promote sustainability and support the $117 billion recycling industry in the U.S. that creates 750,000 jobs.
 

Preserve has also expanded its mission into neighborhoods by offering curbside and mail-in recycling programs, such as their “Gimme 5” program.
 

Military Surplus Sewn Into Khaki Bags

Military supplies stored in warehouses range from tents to bullet casings. Many might have seen these piles as garbage. Not the Nunez sisters.
 

Raised in a military family, Emily Nunez Cavness and Betsy Nunez noticed the fine quality of military materials. The fabrics were made to last. Items came in hues like blue and khaki that are in-style all year round. Even the brass bullet casings could be hammered into striking jewelry and money clips.
 

The hammering reminded the siblings of an ancient quote that referred to a peaceful time when swords would be hammered into ploughs for farming. That was the inspiration behind their company name, Sword and Plough, founded in 2012.
 

Today, the sisters transform tons of wasted surplus into high-quality bags, handbags, and jewelry. The company’s goal is to reduce environmental waste, promote sustainable business, and develop upcycle ideas to sell their products.
 

The company also hires veterans in all stages of production from design to manufacturing and sales — a former U.S. Army captain, Emily Nunez feels strongly that veterans are skilled, educated workers who can talk knowledgeably about and work effectively with military surplus. The company also donates a percentage of profits each year to veteran’s groups.


 

Miniwiz products made with post-consumer waste

 

High-Performance Upcycling at Miniwiz

Miniwiz turns post-consumer waste into high-quality materials and elegant consumer goods. We’re a turnkey design and manufacturing company that views trash as a valuable resource for our future. To learn more about our services across a wide range of industries, visit our solutions page.
 

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