Materials

Weaver Green, in Devonshire, England, has created yarn from recycled bottles that has the look and feel of wool. It’s used to make durable rugs, cushions, footstools and blankets.

Designer WooJai Lee is experimenting with a brick made out of pulped newspaper that can be used to craft benches and tables. And a Danish firm, NewspaperWood BV , has developed a product that can be cut like wood, with grain and texture. Peugeot worked with it on a concept car; the material was used for door panels and dashboards.

Berlin-based material designer Sophie Rowley regards waste streams as “a future quarry, a starting point rather than an end point.” She re-engineers Styrofoam, glass, paper and textiles into items like side tables, with the waste materials transformed into beautiful flow patterns and textures. Nissan is considering a material she makes out of scrap denim for possible dashboards.

The clothing industry is providing a large supply of material — notably leather, denim and cottons.

Danish startup Really worked with textile giant Kvadrat on reusing an enormous store of worn-out sheets, towels and uniforms from hospitality and hospitals. The results: a sturdy textile slab that can sub for wood or composite, as well as an acoustic felt with excellent sound-absorbing qualities.

Spanish designer Jorge Penades transforms scrap leather into lamps clad in a colorful “structural skin.”

The timber industry generates thousands of tons of waste pine needles annually. In Latvia, Tamara Orjola crushes, soaks, steams, binds and presses the needles into a material she calls Forest Wool, which she forms into stools, benches and carpet.

While working as a consultant to the Philippine leather goods industry, Spanish designer and entrepreneur Carmen Hijosa developed a method of processing pineapple leaves into supple, textural faux leather she calls Pinatex . Farmers now benefit from two revenue streams.

“By using intelligent, sensitive, appealing design,” says Caroline Till, “these waste pioneers are developing exciting and innovative ways to turn what’s previously been unwanted into objects of desire.”

KIM COOK VIA AP Shown is Weaver Green’s textile yarn, spun entirely from recycled plastic bottles, yet has a look and feel similar to wool.

IKEA VIA AP This undated photo provided by IKEA shows the TÅNUM carpet. It is made entirely from leftover materials from bed linen production.