Recycling may be a good thing, but Dutch furniture and product design company Newaste argues that ‘precycling’ is even better. Newaste skips the processing procedures necessary to recycle most materials and instead directly transforms, or rather precycles, steel, aluminium and wood waste materials into robust, modern and distinctive furniture and product designs.

Recycling is generally considered to be an important part of sustainable material use. But as Newaste points out, in order to recycle materials they must be collected, transported and then processed. Not only is this an energy intensive procedure but the materials are often then degraded or downcycled into lesser products due to the recycling process itself. For example, as Dr. Michael Braungart – one of the founders of Cradle to Cradle – explains, a typical soda can consists of two kinds of aluminium. The walls of the can are composed of aluminum, manganese alloy with some magnesium, plus coatings and paint, while the harder top is an aluminum magnesium alloy. When the soda can is recycled, these two different types of material are typically melted together and the result is a weaker and less useful aluminium material that cannot continue to be recycled indefinitely while maintaining its material integrity. Newaste however sees an opportunity to reuse materials without relying on conventional processing procedures such as this. Through creative design, Newaste extends the life-cycle of discarded steel and wood materials by utilising them in their found state rather than processing them into something else.

We think the results are great. One of the designs we particularly like is the René Design Wine rack. Each day, Heras BV in the Netherlands throws away hundreds if not thousands of kilograms of waste steel. Newaste takes this waste steel and transforms it into a stylish wine rack. The same waste steel parts are also combined with discarded slabs of french oak or wooden flooring to create dining room tables with unique design details. The steel legs of Newaste’s ‘Willem’ dining table for instance penetrate the oak table top and can be used to magnetically attach a precycled, modern interpretation of a candlestick holder for example. You can look at some other examples of precycled material designs in Newaste’s portfolio here.

At Materia we are not only interested in the creative inspiration that comes from the exploration of materials but also in long-term approaches to the environment and material use. Earlier this summer, Materia attended a conference lecture by Dr. Michael Braugart where he discussed ideas of upcycling versus downcycling and recycling as well as the need for new approaches to material use – such as those adopted by Newaste – that consider materials as part of broader technical or biological cycles. You can read our article about Dr. Braungart’s lecture here.