Have you ever thought about what the recyclable logo means? Many people think that the material with that logo is going to be recycled. Wrong of course. The logo is called Mobius Loop and ‘indicates that an object is capable of being recycled – not that the object has been recycled or will be accepted in all recycling collection systems. Sometimes this symbol is used with a percentage figure in the middle to explain that the packaging contains x% of recycled material.’

Well, everyday huge amounts of misprinted and obsolete candy wrappings, with the Mobius Loop logo are thrown away. Mexican designer Emiliano Godoy, based in Mexico City, teamed up with Ecoist, a company specialized in transforming this material into women’s bags to work on new applications and objects. He designed this stunning chair called ‘Snow Job‘.

Candy wrappers shine like never before

“This chair uses a plastic material that although technically recyclable, is never recycled, not even in its virgin, post-industrial state. Despite this, all wrappings feature a ‘recyclable’ logo. The Snow Job takes its name from the American expression used to describe a cover-up story.”

The Snow Job chair is formed by two main components: structure and cover. The first is a wooden structure, and partly stainless steel, manufactured in FSC certified wood and a vegetable based, biodegradable finish.
The second component is a cover that slips on top of the wooden structure and forms the seat. “This cover is made using small pieces of post-industrial waste from the candy wrapping industry. Labels that are misprinted, or which feature incorrect or obsolete information, are recovered and cut into small sections, which are then folded into rectangular pieces and joined to form large surfaces. An internal reinforcement made from post-consumer recycled paper is used to give rigidity and resistance to the labels.”

Photos © Emiliano Godoy

One label on the back is folded in such a way that the recycling logo that appears on each candy wrapping is visible “speaking about the fact that the cover is made from recycled materials, but also about the misdirecting impression that this logo makes on the final consumer, who might think that candy wrappers are actually recycled when in fact none of them is. Although the wooden structure can be composted and the stainless steel recycled, the cover cannot be recycled or repurposed at the end of its life any more than the original labels.”

Design by Emiliano Godoy | Product by Ecoist