Waste Design Prize to Tour State's North

28/08/2009

Northern businesses are encouraged to consider the benefits of a waste Design Prize encouraging industry to think about waste as a resource.

Selected entries from the past two years of the Bricolage Design Prize have been displayed in Hobart but are now on tour to Launceston and on show at the Design Centre.

"Bricolage asks entrants to develop an ongoing, marketable product from a reliable source of industrial waste which is not being reused or recycled," said Maree Bakker, Waste Minimisation Officer in the Environment Division.

"Current estimates are that Australians produce nearly two tonnes of waste per person per annum - about a third of which comes from industrial or commercial sources."

"The Bricolage Design Prize encourages industry and the wider community to think about waste as a possible resource and it is wonderful to be able to take this message to the Design Centre in Launceston."

Design Centre Director Astrid Wootton said Bricolage embodied some of the Design Centre's key aims.

"We try through our exhibition programs and events here to encourage Tasmanian designers to come up with innovative concepts, and develop sustainable products," Dr Wootton said.

"Of course, this is what Bricolage is also about, so this is the perfect place to display it."

"We're hoping that designers will see Bricolage here and be inspired to enter the Design Centre's Tasmanian Design Award - we're calling for applications until 25 September."

The Design Centre will display selected Bricolage entries from the past two years - including a Masonite wave wall, laminex pendant jewellery and an ottoman stuffed with wetsuit material.

"The display highlights the excellent quality of entries submitted - and all have helped to lift the profile of waste from something mundane into something extraordinary," Ms Bakker said.

"All of the products in the show are derived from more than 90 per cent waste materials and many are comprised of 100 per cent waste. Credit must go to the designers for their ingenuity, resourcefulness and attention to detail in developing these products."

Industries were also able to share their waste and extend goodwill towards designers. To that end, industries keen to find a way to reuse its waste products can go on a register set up specifically for designers to access.

Contact Maree Bakker in the Environment Division for more information about the register.

The show at the Design Centre will run from today until Sunday, 13th September 2009.

For more information about the Design Centre, click here