Electrolux turns garbage into something really valuable. On June 29, the global manufacturer of domestic appliances announced the start of its “Vac from the Sea” project, which is focused on raising environmental awareness by showing people how much trash there is in and around seas and oceans today. Electrolux has partnered with a number of volunteers (individuals, group and environmental organizations) to collect plastic from the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Baltic Sea. The items, which have been gathered during these several months, are now transformed into five state-of-art vacuum cleaners, each one representing one of the seas or oceans from which the plastics originates.
Image Courtesy: From Left to right—The North Sea Edition, The Indian Ocean Edition, The Mediterranean Sea Edition, The Pacific Ocean Edition, The Baltic Sea Edition, Green Range Ultra One. Electrolux Vac from the Sea
“The vacuum cleaners embody the plastic paradox: oceans are full of plastic waste, yet on land there is a shortage of recycled plastic for producing sustainable vacuum cleaners. Electrolux makes Green Range vacuum cleaners from 70% recycled plastic, but wants to reach 100%,” states the company in its post on the corporate website.
Image Courtesy: From Left to right—The North Sea Edition, The Indian Ocean Edition, The Mediterranean Sea Edition, The Pacific Ocean Edition, The Baltic Sea Edition. Electrolux Vac from the Sea
The plastic garbage was gathered on beaches and coastlines, as well as from coral reefs and rocky crevices. It was later used for manufacturing casing for five vacs from the Electrolux Ultra One Green model range (the core structure—chassis, engine, and bag compartment—remained the same as in the regular ones). The marine debris such as PET-bottles, food containers, beverage cans and beach toys and more—was washed and cleaned, but still retained the original colour (some of the objects were even found drenched in oil), so that people could get a more vivid picture of the current condition of the seas. The vacuum cleaners will be later auctioned to gather more money for further research and ocean cleaning.
Image Courtesy: Electrolux Green Range Concept Vac
“By building and exhibiting a limited number of UltraOnes, made from plastic debris like shark bitten bottles, we hope to highlight a pressing issue while breathing life into the subject of recycled plastic,” commented Cecilia Nord, Vice President, Floor Care Sustainability and Environmental Affairs.
Image Courtesy: Laying mosaic. ”Does it look good?”. From the production of the Vac from the sea. Electrolux.
To see more photos describing the process of turning sea garbage into a vacuum cleaner, follow the links below:
Images of the Vacs from the Sea + still life images of collected debris
Images from the studio when making the vacs
Supporting graphics (map, sketches etc) from the project
Images from the collecting of plastics: