UK – reuse initiative turns crisp packets into CD cases

An environmental initiative from London-based musicians ReCoup – they are releasing a single, “Remind You”, in March 2007 and the song is based specifically on mankind‘‘s environmental impacts.



To highlight this ReCoup are distributing the single with recycled crisp packets as the CD‘‘s cover.



Why crisp packets? They are hard to recycle, the perfect shape for a CD, durable and when turned inside out are uniform silver in colour. Apart from actually re- using things that would have gone to landfill sites, ReCoup singer Pieter Theron wants people to “think outside the box” and be creative regarding what can be re-used and recycled.



The CD cover assembling process has built a small, fascinating and highly enthusiastic army of eco-packers. Starting with Drummer Alida Stadler‘‘s class of 10 year olds from Curwen Primary School in the London Borough of Newham, the passion to collect empty crisp packets from friends and family proved so overwhelming that soon the entire Key Stage 2 (Yrs 3,4,5 & 6) at the school were bundling armfuls of empty crisp packets into parental washing machines, resulting in the school‘‘s Head Teacher being so impressed by communal morale that he‘‘s suggested a special after school club to assist with the effort.



Moving up the educational ladder, students at Kingston University have been bitten by the same bug so severely that they‘‘ve set up collection points around the campus and canteens and counted and sorted thousands and thousands of the until-now forsaken and forlorn packets in new-lease-of-life groups (small, large, torn/broken, perfect etc. ) And on into industry – London Remade have apparently become ReCoup fans and approached other Universities whilst impressing four London boroughs sufficiently to elicit agreement to set up collection points for the project…and finally, guitarist Mat Wood‘‘s septuagenarian parents think the idea is so cool that they‘‘ve personally laundered and helped pack thousands of the CDs to date. Looks like a music-driven, community-building, eco-phenomenon to boost all ages, then!