Shaftesbury opens recycling store on Carnaby Street

On Carnaby Street, Shaftesbury has announced the opening of the first visible recycling unit. The space, named Are You Mad, doubles as a retail store and plastic sorting facility.

The shop, which is located at 56B Carnaby Street, gathers plastic waste from neighborhood companies, customers, and members of their expanding community. This waste is then sorted, shred, and used to create new items, including the structure of the store.

The location, which is now formally open as a store, has been working as a collection unit for the past month, preventing 1 tonne of plastic from ending up in landfills in just 40 days.

Are You Mad won’t just be a store; it will also be a workshop where visitors can bring their own trash, learn about plastic, and experience turning it into something artistic.

Items like fruit bowls, hair combs, incense holders, and coasters can be made as unique personalized products. With over 100 distinct products available, prices start at 50p and go up to £15,000.

Samantha Bain-Mollison, Retail Director at Shaftesbury, said that they’re thrilled to announce that Carnaby will be home to the first-ever retail destination plastic recycling concept shop, Are You Mad.” They’re eager to see what unique items are produced from all the plastic donated as well as the future of recycling by the conscious creative unit because it is a truly unique organization.

The unit has been gathering broken hangers, milk bottles, bottle caps, and food boxes to find the three various forms of plastic they have been looking for: (02) HDPE, (05) PP, and (06) PS. These one-time usage things have now been repurposed into artistic artifacts.

The North Face, Annie’s Ibiza, Ganni, Swatch, and G-Shock are among the retail companies in Carnaby who have pledged their support for Are You Mad.

James Suckling, Co-founder at Are You Mad, said that by demonstrating the process of transforming waste into distinctive and tangible products, they seek to alter people’s perceptions of garbage. As a company, they make a difference by reducing the quantity of plastic dumped in landfills, creating meaningful jobs, and promoting circularity through waste.

Are You Mad, a nonprofit, has teamed up with GROW, a charity that works with communities and schools to give specialized programs in sustainable food growing and outdoor education. In exchange for retail goods, Are You Mad will accept charitable contributions for this project.