The Sea Chair Project

One of the chairs made from plastic reclaimed from the oceans. All photos courtesy: Sea Chair Project

At a recent visit to Eyebeam, one of the TreeHugger staff came across the Sea Chair Project by Studio Swine and Kieren Jones. According to them, “the United Nations estimates the world’s oceans to contain some 100 million tons of plastic”. Furthermore, due to commercial fishing and depleting fish stocks, the fishing industry is in crisis.

To kill two birds with one stone, the designers created a device to collect plastic waste floating in the ocean and turn it into stools. The project combines craft, industry and design and offers the fishing industry a new occupation: making chairs onboard.

I love this idea on so many levels. First, and foremost, it is removing some of the plastic in our oceans thereby reducing harm to the marine animals that live there. There will always be plastic there to harm them; but, at least it will be somewhat less now.

Second, it helps us to support our fellow beings financially by giving them a new source of income. There is no way, I would not buy one of these stools; and, I would use it, too. When they are available in my area, I'm sold.


The first Sea Chair was launched at this year’s Milan Design Week and produced with plastic collected from Porthowan Beach in the UK with the help of the custom-made Sea Press. All the machinery and collection tools are refurbished agricultural machinery sourced from salvage yards, re-envisaged and adapted for the purpose of harvesting plastic. I just love this company!


This is then shaped with simple moulds that enable production at sea; and, in the end each chair is tagged with its geographical coordinates and production number. The designers have a vision for the future:

With the depletion of oil within the earth’s crust, oil rigs will one day become dormant. We envisage a time when they could be adapted to harvest rich reserves of plastic as a source of fuel and re-usable materials.

The project won the RCA Sustain Award. It might seem like a crazy idea at the moment but there are more people who believe that one day we will dig out plastics from landfill and fish it out of the sea if crude oil becomes scarce. And then we should really put an effort into making beautiful and comfortable chairs and other objects out of the collected waste.

Londoners Launch a War on Straws

Image courtesy: strawwars/Screen capture

A group of London restaurateurs has started a war: on straws to be precise.

Straw Wars is a campaign to get all the restaurants in Soho, in the heart of central London, to give up straws, and not just for Lent. It's good for everyone: less waste, less garbage, less expense and good for the environment.

The idea is simple – restaurants either get rid of straws completely or provide a straw only when requested by a customer. If they want one, all they have to do is ask. It’s that easy.

So far, 28 restaurants have signed up, including some very fashionable ones. Although the campaign is limited to central London, it is already spreading to other parts of the city.

Why bother? Because billions of straws are discarded every year, they end up in landfills and littering oceans. Plastic straws can, theoretically, be recycled but they rarely are. Many are thrown away by people eating fast food as they walk along the street. Since plastics don't degrade, they last for ages.

Photo courtesy: © sarah hyndman

There is one problem however: McDonald’s. In the UK they serve 3.5m drinks--with-straws--every day. And usually the straws are in help-yourself containers, so customers can, and do, take as many as they want.

Representatives from the Marine Conservation Society are delighted with the move: "We see so much single use plastic appear in the sea and on beaches in our surveys. Many plastic straws on beaches are likely to come from street drains, often via rivers and sewers. Plastic is a huge problem for our marine wildlife and makes up over 60% of all the litter we find on UK beaches."

Not everyone is so impressed. Others argue that restaurants can do more with their operations that would be a whole lot more beneficial to the environment than just urging people not to suck on a straw.

It's a simple idea, the best ones often are. Let's wish these fledgling eco-restaurateurs good luck, and reject straws whenever we can. But surely we can demand some bigger changes too.

Personally, I have no trouble swilling directly from the glass; but, I am not sure how indicative I am of polite company. Reusable straws - good idea - and; they don't take up much space in the purse or desk drawer or where ever. Every small bit of plastic kept out of the environment counts. Join the war on straws.