And, visitors to the kitchen are being given a range of up-to-date, attractive and well-written brochures and leaflets full of useful information about recycling and waste minimisation.
The guides give detailed information about specific materials including plastics, glass, paper and cans. WRAP also points out that 7.5 billion articles of clothing are thrown each year and half could be recycled. Shopping advice includes buying recycled, although the perennial problem of only being able to mention recycled kitchen roll and dustbin liners remains.
Sleek
”The cutting-edge flooring and the fashionable accessories all owe something to your household dustbin. “
– Oliver Heath
The kitchen, which has a range of recycled contents from worktop to table mats was officially opened by Oliver Heath, designer and presenter of BBC Changing Rooms. He said: “It doesn't look like rubbish… but it is! The sleek and stylish kitchen units, the cutting-edge flooring and the fashionable accessories all owe something to your household dustbin.”
Julie Parry, head of communications at WRAP said: “The kitchen is practical because it can be easily recreated in the home, and is both attractive and desirable.”
 TV's Oliver Heath at WRAP's kitchen |
While the recycling message comes through loud and clear from the stand, it seems unlikely that the products and equipment on show will be affordable to the average home-owner and seems to confirm some conceptions about recycled products being expensive. Most of the recycled products are costly by comparison to other products available and it is only the smaller items, such as recycling bins, which might be affordable.
The recycled glass worktop alone for the Ideal Home show kitchen cost around 3,000, and it retails at about 400 + VAT per linear metre. Produced by Eight Inch of London, the work surfaces are hand-made, are hard-wearing and use a resin binder containing recycled glass chips.
While the worktops are mostly likely to be seen in upmarket kitchens, Gary Nicholson, director of Eight Inch, said the company was being particularly successful in the commercial sector. “We currently are supplying 10 counters to Kentucky Fried Chicken shops and their American directors are coming over to have a look.”
Placemats
”We are popping some bubbles of perception – recycled things don't look naff, they are part of the lifestyle. “
– Gareth Lloyd – WRAP
Other items on the stand also look out of reach of the pocket of most show visitors – four table placemats which “combine textile scraps with plastic” cost about 80.
One feature, tiles made from recycled glass by the Recycled Bottle Glass Centre Ltd of Newport, Wales has the potential as highlight feature for a kitchen and retails at 45 for a pack of 10 tiles made from flattened wine bottles.
Gareth Lloyd, WRAP's newly appointed director of communications and awareness, said: “Our kitchen fits with a modern lifestyle. It shows that people can buy good stuff with a recycled content.”
He added: “We are making people think about what they are buying. We are popping some bubbles of perception – recycled things don't look naff, they are part of the lifestyle.”
Mainstream
WRAP's new chief operating officer, Philip Ward, accepted that WRAP needed to do more to encourage recycled products to target the “mainstream” of householders' purchasing needs.
Promoting WRAP's recycled kitchen at the South East Regional Waste Summit at Gatwick Airport today, he said: “A lot of this is niche market, so what we are trying to do now is making these more mainstream.”
The Recycled Kitchen can be seen on Stand 3R2 on the first floor of the exhibition now on at Earls Court until April 4 2004.
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