S-1500 chair, designed by Snøhetta for Nordic Comfort Products made from discarded fishing nets. Image by Bjørnar Ovrebo

URGE is delighted to announce that we are working with the Design Museum on its forthcoming show, Waste Age: What Can Design Do? To coincide with the UN Climate Change Conference 

(COP26), the exhibition will explore what design can do to tackle the critical problem of waste and its environmental consequences across the globe. The curatorial team has asked URGE's Sophie Thomas and Alexie Sommer, with data analyst Ralf Waterfield, to conduct an environmental audit of the exhibition. The audit will enable the museum to communicate the environmental impact of the exhibition clearly, engaging designers, museum staff, partners and visitors in discussions to find the solutions in reducing waste and associated impacts.

Waste Age: What Can Design Do? opens on Saturday October 23. More information is available on the Design Museum website here

Once an important commercial waterway, the Buriganga river in the southwest outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, has now turned into a plastic river. Photo by Shahriar Hossain (Bangladesh)

Plastic is Forever: The Basel Convention Plastic Waste Partnership, in conjunction with the UN, asked people “from all walks of life around the world to share with us photos that showcase how the indiscriminate use of plastic waste is impacting their daily lives and surroundings”. The Basel Convention, the UN’s multilateral environmental treaty on the prevention, minimisation and sound management of waste, has established the Plastic Waste Partnership to provide a platform that unites multiple stakeholders under the common goal of eliminating the leakage of plastic waste into our environment. A selection of images submitted can be viewed online here

LEGO has created its first prototype bricks using recycled PET plastic from discarded bottles. The move is part of LEGO’s promise to make all of its products from sustainable materials by 2030. The prototype bricks are made from used plastic bottles sourced from suppliers in the United States. A one-litre plastic bottle supplies enough raw material for around 10 standard Lego bricks, according to Dezeen’s story here

Design Week reports that a new traffic light food labelling system, designed to help consumers make more environmentally conscious shopping decisions, will be trialled in the UK this autumn. The eco-labelling scheme has been developed by Foundation Earth, a new non-profit backed by the UK government and food brands including Nestlé, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op. More here

The link has been copied!