The Vac From The Sea is a concept by Electrolux to create vacuum cleaners from recycled plastic. Rather than using any old plastic they specifically wish to create vacuums from the plastic they will be gathering from the sea, either from floating plastic expanses or from shore lines.
With the Vac From The Sea concept, Electrolux hopes to highlight two major problems with plastic. Firstly the demand for plastic to recycle into more sustainable goods actually outstrips supply, meaning many who wish to create products from recycled plastic can struggle to do so. Secondly, and more importantly, there is a huge amount of plastic in the worlds waters. The oceans of this planet hold great amounts of plastic – there are vast floating island of plastic some, Electrolux informs us, are several times larger than the state of Texas. There is also a large quantity of plastic washed up on the worlds shorelines.
This plastic causes enormous problems for the environment, killing wildlife and destroying surrounding ecosystems. With only around 1% of plastic being recycled the amount of plastic going to waste is staggering. With Vac From The Sea this environmental horror can be turned into a new resource, helping to provide more recycled plastic that can be used to construct useful household items such as these vacuums. Electrolux plan to remove the plastic in different ways depending on the area they are working on, but methods will include diving for the plastic, scooping it from the waves, and clearing coastlines by hand. Hopefully the plastic reclaimed from the sea that is made into these products would never find its way back there. The dream would be that no other plastics find their way to our seas and that this clean up can highlight the action many need to take to recycle.
Source: Electrolux