Shaftesbury announces the first visible recycling unit store on Carnaby Street

Shaftesbury announces Are You Mad the first visible recycling unit on Carnaby Street. The space exists as both a plastic sorting facility and a retail store. They collect plastic waste from local businesses, shoppers and their growing community, which is then sorted, shredded, and turned into new objects, including the build of the shop itself.

The unit is located at the lower end of Carnaby Street, at 56B. Since opening Are You Mad have diverted 1259kg of plastic from going to landfills and have processed a tonne of plastic in just 40 days.

Recycling facilities are only able to recycle a small percentage of everything that goes in the bin, very little is reused, most of it is shipped somewhere far away, sent to landfill or burnt.

Are You Mad thought it was ‘a mad idea’ to try to stop all the plastic waste from leaving the place where it is generated. Flip the concept on it’s head, elevate the role of waste as a missed creative resource and make a waste collector into an aspirational job for a young creative person.

Items can be created as one-off custom products, including coasters, hair combs, incense holders and fruit bowls. Prices start at 50p and range up to £15,000 with over 100 different products available.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily