Off the Wall Winter 2015
From bullets to bling
It’s fair to say that most people would agree that wearing jewellery is better than bearing illegal weapons, but what’s even better is upcycling illegal guns and bullets into fashionable necklaces, bracelets and earrings.
That’s exactly what Liberty United, founded by social entrepreneur Peter Thum in 2013, is doing. The company has just launched its first in-house design collection, following collaborations with Philip Crangi and Pamela Love. Each piece of jewellery bears the serial number of a gun taken out of circulation, and profits help to fund programmes to reduce gun violence in America.
For more, visit www.libertyunited.com
Dirt to Dirt
Recycling and gardening enthusiasts could some day engage in the ultimate act of composting if the Urban Death Project takes off.
The US-based organisation says it has created ‘a new system for gently and sustainably disposing of the dead using the process of composting’. The project, which is conducting needs assessments in several US cities, would see bodies placed into a mixture of woodchips and sawdust in a three-storey structure. Over just a few months, the organisation says, the deceased will decompose fully into a rich compost, which loved ones will be encouraged to take back to their own gardens. The compost will also be used on site and in city parks so that ‘the dead are folded back into the fabric of the city’.
Find out more at: www.urbandeathproject.org
Mushroom drone
The resources industry would love it if students got stuck in to recycling, but one university-goer seems to have taken the message a bit too literally!
On a night out last autumn, 19-year-old Chelsie Redwood from Southampton’s Solent University got her head stuck in a bottle bank in the city’s Civic Centre car park. She had put her head in the recycling unit following a dare from a friend, with the promised reward for the ill-advised stunt of £10 and a Big Mac.

Firefighters had to be called to the scene in the wee hours to help release the hapless girl. Crew manager Chris Rashleigh commented: “I think it was student night. I imagine she was looking for more drink. I think she had been there for a little while by the time we got there… She was very relieved to come out. She said ‘I will never do that again.’”
After she got over her embarrassment, we hope she reflected long and hard on the right way to use recycling banks!
Getting stuck into recycling
The resources industry would love it if students got stuck in to recycling, but one university-goer seems to have taken the message a bit too literally!
On a night out last autumn, 19-year-old Chelsie Redwood from Southampton’s Solent University got her head stuck in a bottle bank in the city’s Civic Centre car park. She had put her head in the recycling unit following a dare from a friend, with the promised reward for the ill-advised stunt of £10 and a Big Mac.
Firefighters had to be called to the scene in the wee hours to help release the hapless girl. Crew manager Chris Rashleigh commented: “I think it was student night. I imagine she was looking for more drink. I think she had been there for a little while by the time we got there… She was very relieved to come out. She said ‘I will never do that again.’”
After she got over her embarrassment, we hope she reflected long and hard on the right way to use recycling banks!