Oakland, CA — In recent design news, Italian researchers have developed a way to make a bone substitute out of a strong type of wood, the carpet from the Copenhagen conference will find a new life and a footwear retailer has been fined for not paying into a recycling program.
Wood Becomes Bone
Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics in Italy have developed a way to turn rattan, a type of wood, into a bone substitute, the BBC reported. By heating the rattan, putting it under pressure, adding calcium and phosphate, and making other chemical changes, the researchers were able to create a substance similar to bone. The material has been tested on sheep with arthritis, in which the fake bone has bonded with real bone. Testing on humans is about five years away.
A Carpet's Second Life
The carpet used during the UN Conference on Climate Change, which was made of NatureWorks' plant-based Ingeo fibers, will be recycled into building blocks for future products. More than 215,000 square feet of the Ingeo-based Eco2punch carpet manufactured by Sommer Needlepunch was used at the conference. Lactic acid producer Galactic will convert the carpet back into virgin lactic acid. Galactic will also recycle all of the Eco2punch carpet and Ingeo cutlery, plates and cups used at the Nordic Fashion Summit held in Copenhagen last month.
Fined Footwear
Brantano Ltd., a U.K. footwear retailer with 147 stores, was fined more than £30,000 for not complying with packaging regulations under the country's Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations. Under the regulations, companies that meet certain criteria must register with the Environment Agency or a recycling compliance program and pay for the recovery and recycling of a specific proportion of their packaging. Money raised is invested in the recycling industry. Brantano had not registered with the Environment Agency and avoided costs of about £20,000 between 2003 and 2007.
Efficient Big Screens
A new technology to make large format displays more energy efficient was launched by Prysm. The company's Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) uses a laser engine to excite a phosphor screen. Prysm says the technology consumes 75 percent less power than other display technologies.
Hand on rattan - http://www.flickr.com/photos/benny4bs/ / CC BY-SA 2.0