www.humansinvent.com
Studio Swine starts aluminium can recycling drive in São Paulo
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
2 min read
Studio Swine puts waste aluminium to use in São Paulo with their project Can City.
Alexander Groves, who set up Studio Swine with Azusa Murakami, says, “Can City was looking into the way waste is collected and recycled in São Paulo. It is the capital of aluminium, recycling more aluminium than anywhere else in the world. They go from drinks cans to recycling and back into drinks cans in 30 days so it is really efficient.”
80% of these aluminium cans are collected by catadores (rubbish collectors) who roam the streets with carts piling up the waste and selling it on for very little money. Studio Swine has been exploring ways of making more from this waste.
Smelting on the streets
They came up with the concept of a carbon neutral, mobile foundry that could be taken onto the streets to smelt the aluminium which in turn could be made into furniture. The foundry itself is made from scrap and the fuel is waste vegetable oil that can be collected for free from restaurants and cafes in the city.
Groves says, “There is a huge amount of fried food in Brazil and in São Paolo especially – every street corner has a café and they have a lot of fried snacks so there is just gallons of it. You just have to filter it which is very simple using a little sieve and then you can use it.”
Stools
Once they have smelted the aluminium, they make simple moulds in sand with found materials such as used bricks before pouring the liquid metal in to create the designs. They have started with stools but plan to develop a whole series of furniture.
Alexander Groves, who set up Studio Swine with Azusa Murakami, says, “Can City was looking into the way waste is collected and recycled in São Paulo. It is the capital of aluminium, recycling more aluminium than anywhere else in the world. They go from drinks cans to recycling and back into drinks cans in 30 days so it is really efficient.”
80% of these aluminium cans are collected by catadores (rubbish collectors) who roam the streets with carts piling up the waste and selling it on for very little money. Studio Swine has been exploring ways of making more from this waste.
Smelting on the streets
They came up with the concept of a carbon neutral, mobile foundry that could be taken onto the streets to smelt the aluminium which in turn could be made into furniture. The foundry itself is made from scrap and the fuel is waste vegetable oil that can be collected for free from restaurants and cafes in the city.
Groves says, “There is a huge amount of fried food in Brazil and in São Paolo especially – every street corner has a café and they have a lot of fried snacks so there is just gallons of it. You just have to filter it which is very simple using a little sieve and then you can use it.”
Stools
Once they have smelted the aluminium, they make simple moulds in sand with found materials such as used bricks before pouring the liquid metal in to create the designs. They have started with stools but plan to develop a whole series of furniture.
Previous article
The Inspiro train from Siemens to sport aluminium floor with 95% recycling rate
Next articleNovelis to open new aluminum facility expansion in New York in October
Grow with
AL Circle
