STUDENT RECYCLES OLD CHAIRS INTO BACKPACKS!

Over 810,000 office chairs are disposed of annually in the UK alone. Concerned by the waste, Thomas Howell-Jones – a Birmingham product design student – came up with a way to help keep them out of the landfill, so he decided to take the chair's back rest and make a hard-shell backpack out of it. 

The backpack is known as 'Rest' and is reportedly durable, waterproof and impact-resistant, plus it can also be used as a bicycle pannier. Howell-Jones first got the idea after dismantling a variety of discarded office chairs and assessing the possible uses of the different parts. The Rest backpack has won an award recently at the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) Student designs awards. Meanwhile, Thomas is currently looking into other waste materials; such as bicycle inner tubes, that could likewise be converted into usable products. Have a look at the gallery to see what the Rest backpack looks like.