UK furniture and design company Pentatonic has invented the Trashpresso, a solar-powered, mini-recycling plant that transforms plastic waste into usable architectural tiles. Pentatonic doesn’t use raw goods that create excess waste because they are committed to using materials for their products that incorporate some element of recycling, says co-founder Johann Bodecker. They want their products to be reusable, too, so they don’t use glues, resins, paints or formaldehydes to create them, a philosophy that influences all company decisions.

The Trashpresso can be used in off-the-grid places where traditional recycling plants would be impractical. It sorts, shreds and compresses trash into plastic fibers to create fully formed tiles. The invention has attracted the attention of companies that want to reduce their own contribution to plastic waste and ocean pollution. Starbucks UK, for example, has commissioned Pentatonic to turn their coffee shop waste into furniture, including bean bag chairs produced from plastic bottles and cups.

This article appears in the April 2018 issue of Natural Awakenings.