Core77

The ECHO project, from the ID program at Western Washington University, is an inventive and creative experiment focusing on turning industrial waste and scrap into viable and desirable products. Students intercept industrial waste before it reaches landfills and then use this as source material to produce innovative products. The project teaches principles of recycling, design, marketing and production in one shot. Shown above are a back-massaging device from scrap wood and CO2 containers (Adam Weisgerber) and a trivet made from a stove heating coil (Kyle Cornelius). The students have produced 20 duplicates of each product, and the results are now for sale at the Whatcom Museum of History and Art Gift Shop in Bellingham (and selling like hotcakes). Too bad for the rest of us outside of Washington state. Hopefully next year the items will be available on line.