This is Rubbish

Transforming A Classic

With a flair for engineered ingenuity, Project & Product Concept Manager at Vipp, Mikkel Bech Nielsen has spent the last year transforming waste to value in the development of ‘Rubbish’ – Vipp’s classic pedal bin in a new material compound of 75% recycled materials. Here, he dissects the anatomy of a waste bin made of waste.

a waste bin made of waste

ONE MAN’S TRASH Without altering the design of the original Vipp15 pedal bin crafted by Holger Nielsen in Randers, Denmark in 1939, we challenged ourselves to rethink the production of the pedal bin with the purpose of radically reducing raw materials by reusing own production waste. Collected production waste is reprocessed and transformed into a new Vipp signature fibre material shaping the body of the bin.

PRODUCTION IN PROXIMITY Paddling together a granulate of industrial plastic leftovers and sawdust from Vipp’s furniture production have paved the way for a new material. Wood leftovers are sourced locally in Denmark from our tabletop manufacturing, while plastic waste is sourced from amongst others the leftover plastic wrapping of textile roles used in Vipp’s sofa production. Each Rubbish bin replaces 3.7 kg of steel with plastic and sawdust otherwise burnt in a trash burning facility. Recycling the wood means that CO2 are stored in the product rather than released into the atmosphere.

RAW STATE Locally produced in Denmark, Vipp’s signature fibre material is a result of a process where plastic binds the wood fibres in a paste which is then pressed into a mould. Moulded parts are glued together to shape the bin corpus. The compound hatches a unique light grey colour with visible surface structures created by the raw materials. Rather than a colour coat, the bin corpus is dressed in its natural and raw state.

ONE STEP FURTHER To minimize the use of steel, the Rubbish bin’s inner compartment is fitted with a metal ring for the mounting of Vipp’s regenerated plastic liners replacing the standard galvanized inner bin. The original dome-shaped lid in stainless steel remains intact as a unique design feature of the original bin. From the standard bin we repeat rubber components and pedal mechanism due to its proven long lifetime and durability. The packaging of the bin has also been subject to a redesign towards a more environment friendly solution with recycled and recyclable FSC cardboard boxing.

MAKING THINGS THAT LAST Based on a product’s entire life cycle, the footprint is reduced by continuous use. The per-use footprint is defined by whether you keep a product for decades or just a season or two. The Vipp bin is designed with longevity in mind even offering a 10-year warranty on the entire bin collection and buying into durability will save the raw material and energy use related to acquiring new products. The Rubbish bin is crafted in 75% recycled and recyclable materials meaning that all parts can be reused in the distant future. A prerequisite for sustaining a product is product reparability. For the original Vipp bin and its new iteration, we ensure that spare parts are available intended to maximize product age.