Earrings made with printer waste
A Christchurch small business owner turning scraps of plastic printer waste from the city library into feather earrings is so inundated with orders, she has had to hire extra staff to manage the soaring demand.
Remix Plastic founder Anthea Madill collects the plastic filament from Tu¯ ranga’s
3-D printer, melts it down into flat sheets, then laser cuts the sheets into wearable accessories, including earrings, brooches and name tags.
As a ‘‘thank you’’ to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her guidance during the coronavirus pandemic, Madill sent her a care package, which included her handmade Huia feather earrings, a letter, and drawings from her 4-year-old daughter.
Ardern wore the earrings at a media conference last Friday announcing the Government would spend $175 million to boost New Zealand’s arts and creative sector. Soon after, a Facebook post in a page celebrating Kiwi-made goods attracted more than 17,000 likes from New Zealanders keen to purchase their own pair.
Madill’s online orders increased ‘‘hundreds fold’’, she said.
‘‘My friend messaged me and said ‘aren’t those your earrings [on TV]?’. That was pretty amazing but even better was knowing that [Ardern] had read my letter. Her wearing the earrings was just the cherry on top.’’
Madill gave Ardern kudos for ‘‘walking the talk in terms of buying New Zealand made’’, and said the earrings showed she supported small businesses nationwide.
The Creative in Residence at Tu¯ ranga said she had hired two extra staff to help meet the soaring demand for her jewellery, with friends also offering to lend a hand after an ‘‘overwhelming’’ number of orders came in over the long Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
Madill said she started making recycled plastic products about three years ago. By using local waste she hoped to create products that had a ‘‘sustainable story’’, divert waste from landfill and spark conversation about reducing single-use plastic.
‘‘I felt like there were lots of great products out there but a real lack of education in teaching people how to make a difference and why it’s so important.
‘‘Plastic recycling is a vehicle for that discussion and products are a good way to take that story away after a workshop.’’
Madill, whose background is in marine biology, has worked in sustainability in Christchurch since 2016. She provides environmentally-focused education through her
experiences in conservation, sustainability and living a zerowaste lifestyle.
‘‘I’ve always been interested in that area but there was a real disconnect in what I was actually doing and what I wanted to see. I didn’t change my behaviour until my daughter came along, that was a really pivotal moment for me.’’
She now runs workshops on reducing and recycling plastic, including teaching people to make their own shampoo bars, household cleaners and beeswax wraps.
The filament used for her earrings comes from the production studio of Christchurch’s central library, which has five 3-D printers.
Madill takes the black and white waste and breaks it up, then sorts through the chips to pick out any rogue colours before laying it on a reusable silicon sheet. A sheet press is used to melt the plastic, which is then shaped using the library’s laser cutter.
She chose the feather design of the extinct huia to highlight the unintended consequences when sustainable practices are not considered.
Madill’s experience was not the first time Ardern had caused a spike in earring sales.
The prime minister raised eyebrows when she attended a media briefing in April wearing artist Ronja Schipper’s long black feather earrings made from repurposed bicycle tyres.
Madill also provides consultancy to small businesses wanting to employ better practices and said she was relentlessly searching for the best way to ‘‘make the biggest impact’’.
Her earrings are available online, and in a handful of Christchurch stores including HAPA at The Tannery, and Gather + You in Rangiora.
‘‘My friend messaged me and said ‘aren’t those your earrings [on TV]?’.’’
Anthea Madill