Watch These Recycled Cans Morph Into Furniture Andri Antoniades - TakePart
go to original January 6, 2014

Short film about a mobile aluminium foundry casting stools from waste on the streets of São Paulo. (studioswine.com)

Brazil is ranked as a world leader when it comes to aluminum can recycling, though for its catadores - the independent pickers who collect those cans from city streets - making a living from the work isn't easy. But a project in São Paulo could give them another stream of revenue - by turning some of their collected aluminum cans into sellable merchandise.

Can City is a mobile foundry operating on the streets of São Paulo. Free waste cooking oil, collected from local cafés, powers a furnace that melts the cans. The liquefied aluminum is poured into molds to create products that can be sold.

The project was started by Studio Swine, a U.K.-based design firm that focuses on sustainability, an attitude that can be seen in the other materials the Can City foundry uses. Not only are the aluminum and oil recycled products, but the molds themselves are made ad hoc, on the street using found materials, including sand from nearby construction sites.

Read the rest at TakePart

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