Be honest — Would you buy this? Or — If someone gave it to you free, would you use it?
The above is a pencil case made of drink pouches. Or more accurately, it’s four Kool-Aid pouches cut and sewn together, with a zipper attached to one side. To the right’s a look at the inside.
Don’t get me wrong — I love Terracycle, the anti-waste company that’s making these pencil cases. And I love the idea of upcycling juice pouches and cookie wrappers and what have you; I wrote glowingly about TerraCycle’s trash brigade program here.
And I do really like some of the upcycling Terracycle does! The company’s best known for its worm-poop plant fertilizer, all of which gets packaged in bottles saved from the waste stream. Those bottles all look just fine, as do TerraCycle’s new line of cleaning products, packaged similarly.
I even think the reusable totes TerraCycle’s making by upcycling used Target plastic bags look pretty good. They’re sturdy too!
I am just not sure about these juice pouch thingies. They are kinda cheap and crunchy looking to me, and seem a bit like a home-ec project gone wrong. What do you think?
They are probably cheap looking because they are made from cheap materials without an excessive amount of labor added in. They appear to be constructed of only juice pouches, thread and a zipper. I’m not so sure about the “gone wrong” part. If it works, what is wrong with it? I usually consider something to have “gone wrong” if it falls apart after minimal usage, there are undesired holes/imperfections or it simply doesn’t function as intended. Maybe it would be “prettier” and not look as cheap if the pouches were cut up into smaller pieces and different colors were sewn together so the materials used to make the product weren’t so obvious or if the silvery inside part was on the outside instead.
Personally I wouldn’t buy it because I have no use for it and if I did, I’d probably make one myself. I find a great deal of satisfaction from constructing things out of reused materials though, so I probably have a different perspective on the whole situation.
Comment by M — June 9, 2008 @ 3:56 pm
I love your blog and the little koolaid bag pouch is awesome. I wanted to let you know about my new website that I just launched. I would love your feedback and comments on my new site. We sell eco-friendly home decor and accessories.
We also carry biodegradable and organic products.
I’d love your comments:) “keep it green”
-William
http://www.worldlydecor.com
Comment by William — June 9, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
The issue for me is that I never — and I mean NEVER — have a need for a pencil case, ugly or not. So the very idea that anyone would spend money on one, eco-friendly or not, seems inherently wasteful to me.
Then again, my pens are always dangling about aimlessly in the bottom of my purse, so perhaps I SHOULD invest in a case expressly designed for holding them.
Comment by J — June 10, 2008 @ 8:45 am
M — There is nothing particularly “wrong” with the product on a functional standpoint. My issue has to do just with the aesthetics of it –
I used to always have a pencil case back when I was a kid — but now I use pens too –
Comment by Siel — June 10, 2008 @ 9:30 am
The Target bag is really cute. The pencil case is differnet.
Comment by michelle rosborough — June 10, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
yes you’re right. i checked these out in a store and they are pretty ugly. not a bad idea, they just came out ugly.
Comment by Jamie Rincker — June 13, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
My friends all have these things, and they all work like a charm - purses, wallets, everything! They’re sturdy, and while admittedly some colors aren’t gorgeous, others are. This is just me, but I’d rather have an ugly recycled pencil bag than a cute one that isn’t recycled.
One can always make them cute.. I’m notorious for coloring all over my pencil bags and having my friends sign them.
Comment by Gracie — June 29, 2008 @ 12:34 pm
I wonder if they come in bigger sizes.. If they’re all that small, then I would never use them. I always need a biggish pencil bag.
Comment by Gracie — June 29, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
This one in your picture is not attractive. But they can be very cool. I just bought one multi-colored with three pouches upright on both sides.
Comment by Mary — September 2, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
Perhaps Terracycle might consider eliminating the inadvertent advertising of a poor substitute for nutrition and just turn the things inside out. Just as I refuse to buy tee-shirts with advertising (the only tees with words I wear are those with which I have an intimate association, and even then only as undershirts), I also shy away from stuff that advertises crap. Moreover, I understand that to make it the way it is made is to exhibit what can be done with what would otherwise be trash made for the one-time use of flavoured sugar water, but it is simply ugly. (I have always held the same idea about beer-can macrame hats, which my mum usta make in the 1970s.)
It is a good idea to re-use that which would otherwise go into a landfill, but a bit of an aesthetic would be nice too.
Comment by BusTard — September 14, 2008 @ 1:51 pm