[Source: Reuters]

Plastic bottle caps, food packaging, single-use utensils and scrapped toys are just some of the throw-away items that have been given a new life at a zero-waste workshop in Taipei.

Customers get hands-on experience in the recycling process, taking plastic waste brought from home, and softening and moulding it into a pair of sunglasses within two hours.

“What we are trying to show in the Trash Kitchen is to let you see, feel, touch within minutes how this process can actually work without secondary pollution, and you can actually turn it into something of value directly in front of you,” Arthur Huang, founder of Miniwiz, opens new tab, the company that runs the workshop, told Reuters.

The Taiwan company also produces tiles, bricks, hangers and other daily necessities from plastic and organic waste, using a “miniTrashpresso”, a machine it developed in 2017, Huang said.

Kora Hsieh, editor-in-chief for fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar Taiwan, said the sunglasses project is a good initiative to promote sustainable fashion.

“I think environmental protection and fashion still have a long way to go. As for consumers, it is important for them to get first-hand experience, so a workshop like this is very helpful,” she said.

Participants said the workshop inspired them to think twice about producing trash and pay more attention to reusable items.

“I have two children. I need to think about their future,” said business owner Debbie Wu, 40.

“If you throw away trash without thinking, you kick the problem down the road. So if everyone can do their best, recycle and use less plastic, that will make a big difference,” Wu said.

Taiwan produced a record 11.58 million metric tons of waste in 2023, including 6.27 million tons of recyclable trash, according to data from the Ministry of Environment.