In 2020, singer Pharrell Williams’s consumer brand I Am Other helped to make portable cutlery made out of recycled CDs and food packaging, with stainless steel, to tackle the problem of the rise in waste created by the resurgence of single-use goods during the coronavirus pandemic.
The foldaway knife, spoon, fork, straw and chopsticks, which come with a handy carry case, were made in collaboration with design studio and circular economy specialist Pentatonic to encourage people to stop opting for single-use plastic cutlery when eating outdoors. The utensils are stainless steel with recycled plastic handles.
The product, called The Pebble in honour of the shape of the case, has the double benefit of finding a use for the plethora of unwanted CDs that began to accumulate and be disposed of in landfill amid the rise of music-streaming services from the mid-noughties onwards. Pentatonic estimates that 10 billion CDs and DVDs have been disposed of in the USA alone since 2005.
After being collected and cleaned of contaminants, the CDs have the metallic layer removed before the plastic disc is shredded and formed into pellets, which are heated and formed into the cutlery set, along with the stainless steel, using precision tools. When they no longer want the product, consumers can sell it back to Pentatonic, which will reuse the materials.
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In 2020, singer Pharrell Williams’s consumer brand I Am Other helped to make portable cutlery made out of recycled CDs and food packaging, with stainless steel, to tackle the problem of the rise in waste created by the resurgence of single-use goods during the coronavirus pandemic.
The foldaway knife, spoon, fork, straw and chopsticks, which come with a handy carry case, were made in collaboration with design studio and circular economy specialist Pentatonic to encourage people to stop opting for single-use plastic cutlery when eating outdoors. The utensils are stainless steel with recycled plastic handles.
The product, called The Pebble in honour of the shape of the case, has the double benefit of finding a use for the plethora of unwanted CDs that began to accumulate and be disposed of in landfill amid the rise of music-streaming services from the mid-noughties onwards. Pentatonic estimates that 10 billion CDs and DVDs have been disposed of in the USA alone since 2005.
After being collected and cleaned of contaminants, the CDs have the metallic layer removed before the plastic disc is shredded and formed into pellets, which are heated and formed into the cutlery set, along with the stainless steel, using precision tools. When they no longer want the product, consumers can sell it back to Pentatonic, which will reuse the materials.