CAPitalizing on Re-use
Above is our proposal for the bottle cap recycling project for submission
to Terracycle: a portable or travel-ready checkers game.
Above is our proposal for the bottle cap recycling project for submissionto Terracycle: a portable or travel-ready checkers game.
Closeup shot of the bottlecaps in play...
The "pouch" formed when the drawstring is pulled...
Ready to go!
My partner Melia had one of the same thumbnails I did during our brainstorming session... a checkers game. It was easy to agree that this idea would be fun to bring to fruition. Upon this decision we had to figure out what the board would be made of, as we knew the pieces would be the bottle caps. We toyed with a few ideas, such as a board on thin chipboard that would roll up and contain the caps, or a small folding board that would fit into a traditional box. All of these materials are perfectly recyclable, or could be made of recycled materials, but there was something missing.
The idea of a fabric playing board seemed interesting, and Melia suggested that all of those old T-shirts everyone ends up with would be great if they could be recycled instead of just thrown away, and voila! Our board came into existence.
Using an old T-shirt, we cut out a square large enough to hold the 12"x12" checkerboard, and used marker to simulate screen printing. Holes are punched around the perimeter of the board, allowing for a drawstring to run through. The holes are close enough so that when the string is pulled, the caps will not fall out.
We have chosen to keep the design as simple as possible, to promote fast and economical production. The caps do not need to be modified at all for this use, and using one layer of T-shirt material with screen printing on one side reduces the amount of labor and cost involved. The string could be made of natural hemp or other biodegradable/recyclable material.
We feel our checkerboard is quite versatile (you can still play even if it gets wet!) and could be marketed for camping, fishing, travel or home use. Everyone could use a little more fun!
The idea of a fabric playing board seemed interesting, and Melia suggested that all of those old T-shirts everyone ends up with would be great if they could be recycled instead of just thrown away, and voila! Our board came into existence.
Using an old T-shirt, we cut out a square large enough to hold the 12"x12" checkerboard, and used marker to simulate screen printing. Holes are punched around the perimeter of the board, allowing for a drawstring to run through. The holes are close enough so that when the string is pulled, the caps will not fall out.
We have chosen to keep the design as simple as possible, to promote fast and economical production. The caps do not need to be modified at all for this use, and using one layer of T-shirt material with screen printing on one side reduces the amount of labor and cost involved. The string could be made of natural hemp or other biodegradable/recyclable material.
We feel our checkerboard is quite versatile (you can still play even if it gets wet!) and could be marketed for camping, fishing, travel or home use. Everyone could use a little more fun!
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