According to the Global Waste Management Outlook 2024 produced by UNEP , the production of municipal solid waste will increase by nearly 2 billion tons and hit 3.8 billion tons by 2050. One step to address this comes via the Swedish company Aira .
The firm is involved in clean energy technology, has announced a creative partnership with Charis Williams (also known as ‘ The Salvage Sister ’) to explore how disused boilers can be upcycled into beautifully designed furniture. This comes in the context of Aira launching a campaign to promote the benefits of switching to a heat pump and demonstrate creative solutions to how disused gas boilers could be used. The objective is to encourage businesses and consumers to reduce carbon dioxide.
The announcement also coincides with the annual World Cleanup Day (WCD). This year, WCD features for the first time in the United Nations Calendar of International Days & Weeks . In support of this move, the UK government is aiming to replace 600,000 boilers annually by 2028 with greener alternatives, the new prototypes demonstrate what could be done with the millions of boilers destined for the scrap heap.
Williams, who is based in the UK, spent 23 days carefully sculpting her artistic creations, transforming three polluting gas boilers into functional household items that no longer emit carbon emissions into the environment. The Salvage Sister has indicated that the real challenge when producing her sculpture was ensuring the chair fixings were able to take the weight of an adult. For this, she used specialist drills, welders, a rivet gun, reused nuts, bolts, piping, and a sand blaster to clean the base of the lamp.
In the future, the items will be on display at one of Aira’s clean energy-tech hubs. The United Nations Environment Assembly and Aira are encouraging members of the public to share images of their DIY upcycling projects online, inspired by the work of artists like Charis Williams. This is with the hashtag #MakeRoomForLife to help inspire a wave of issue-based creativity on the UN World Cleanup Day.
Commenting on the project Williams said: “Creating beautiful and useful items out of scrap, redundant parts and salvage is what I do, whether I’m making functional items like furniture and chandeliers or sculptures. I started working with scrap to highlight the epic amounts of useable materials being sent to landfill needlessly.” The Salvage Sister adds: “I hope that my work inspires others to think outside the box, get creative and make unique things from discarded items.
Not only will it save our planet – but they’ll also have a fabulous time doing it!” Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news.Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism.
He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs..
