WASTE WORTHY
While the country struggles to manage and dispose plastic better, a number of individuals and organisations have struck gold by recycling it right
Recycling mantra Cars and other automobiles are used for a certain period of time after which they are scrapped. Carniture uses these vehicles to recreate beautiful and sturdy furniture and decor pieces that not only reflect style and uniqueness, but also help recycle plastic and other waste materials. All of this supports the design movement for sustainable development.
Chances are you haven’t even noticed it. The next time you sit in a car (unless it has leather interiors), most of what you lay your eyes on around you will be made out of plastic. Car manufacturers use varying proportions of 13 kinds of plastic to create everything inside a car—from the dashboard and instrument panel to cup holders, air bags and seat belts. Even the widow glass has a film of plastic on it to reduce the probability of it shattering. And that’s not all: the vehicle’s exteriors also use lightweight plastics. So, when a car becomes old and worn out, it ends up in a landfill, with the non-biodegradable plastic intact. And that is exactly where Anand Kashyap, owner of Kashyap Motors, steps in.
The 46-year-old wanted to breathe new life into cars past their prime by turning them into unique pieces of furniture and home decor. “Working with cars has been my passion since childhood and it has been my profession for the past 25 years,” says Kashyap, whose company deals in luxury cars and their servicing. He started his company Carniture (www.carniture.in) only a year ago, but it was something that he had planned on doing much earlier. “I had conceived this concept to create art and furniture from automobiles and their parts 30 years ago when I had gone to Munich to study with BMW, where it was part of my project,” he says. Kashyap’s new venture is the result of a conscious effort to take the design movement towards sustainable development.
“We first make a design keeping various parts and tools of a car and scooter in mind and conceptualise it on paper. Then, we disassemble or cut the car to create a piece using various techniques, such as reshaping, adding various parts together, creating a seating system or adding the top to a table or even manufacturing an entire BBQ or swing,” he explains. “Then we paint and test the piece before we put it in the showroom.”
The brand’s current range of products includes sofas, tables, swings, barbeques, bar counters, bar chairs, clocks, office stationery, chairs, coffee tables, cocktail tables, toilet paper holders and bottle openers. Prices range from Rs 2,990 to Rs 2,75,000.
“I started the company a year ago as working with cars has been my passion since childhood and my profession for the past 25 years. I had conceived this idea to create art and furniture from automobiles and their parts 30 years ago when I had gone to Munich to study with BMW, where it was part of my project” —ANAND KASHYAP