Robert Gordon University

Origin – the ability to sustain

Daniel Sutherland and Ben Durack, designers from Gray’s School of Art at Robert Gordon University (RGU), are the brains behind Origin which is an Aberdeen city centre plastic recycling hub, the first of its kind in Scotland.

Origin is a successful business which uses recycled plastic to make new items which it then sells on.  It was formed by two lecturers and has gone on to create a highly visible city centre community recycling hub in Aberdeen.  The company has ambitions to export their model worldwide so consumers across the globe can see for themselves the transformation of discarded plastics into something new. 

The discarded single-use plastics like children’s toys, pot noodles and buckets are shredded down to raw material using equipment at RGU and they can be injection moulded into new products such as planters and soap dish’s which they sell online and at their shop.

The company believes that plastic is valuable rather than a product to be demonised with the aim of their products made using recycled materials contributing to the circular economy. With sustainability at the heart of Origin the company work with their very own ethos.  It says, “We believe that sustainability is found simply in the ability to sustain.”

Top 3 Learnings

1. We have proven that micro-circular economies are possible.
2. We have learned that people find it helpful to understand more about the different types of plastic out there.
3. We have designed products from thrown away materials that people love.