One of our favorite games to play during casual dinner parties is Jenga or tower blocks if you want to be generic. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking or physical prowess, although strategy is also important. What if you could have a version of this game that is more eco-friendly and can help reduce plastic waste? Of course, that would be better if you’re conscious of the carbon footprint that you leave behind with your purchases.
Designer: Intops
Korean global manufacturer Intops wanted to lessen its global footprint even as they make products using various materials that, unfortunately, include plastic. So they came up with a “revive project” that will use all of these discarded materials and turn them into something useful. They used materials from discarded, defective items that they manufactured as well as creating composite materials from their production plant, specifically discarded plastic, wood, and leather.
The first creation that they’re currently crowd-funding is a version of Jenga but made from eco-friendly materials simply called Tower Blocks. The composite materials are made up of 540g of discarded plastic and 143g of discarded wood. Compared to making the original game with its regular material, these blocks can reduce CO2 consumption by 81%. They say that a set of these blocks can be compared to recycling 44 disposable coffee cups or 135 disposable spoons.
In terms of its design, these Tower Blocks have a leaf pattern for aesthetic purposes embedded on the blocks instead of just the smooth surface on most blocks like these. And instead of just the wooden color that we’re familiar with, the set has off-white (sand), pink (flower), and green (leaf), making it more colorful and pleasant to the eyes. The words “recycled plastic and wood waste” are also etched in each block, lest you forget what it is made from. Even the packaging uses eco-friendly paper made from 100% sugar cane residue with soybean oil link.
The pandemic has reportedly worsened the plastic consumption globally so having projects like these that try to reduce or at least recycle these materials are always welcome. They have already more than met their original funding goal so expect this to become available in the market soon, at least in South Korea.
