Cardboard Waste Tower

I made this when I moved into my dorm room at college and got fed up having such a messy trash and recycling situation. I designed something to elegantly separate trash from paper recycling and plastic/metal recycling. Having just moved to New York City, I was inspired by the efficiency of building upward. So I decided to make the Waste Tower...

I designed the Waste Tower to hold standard size office waste bins.

This is one of those projects that are pretty self explanatory. I could give you the dimensions and layout to cut the cardboard exactly how I did but I didn't keep those notes and you will probably learn something planning it on your own. 

MATERIALS

Cardboard: I get my cardboard from bicycle shops and ask if they have any bike boxes. They always have a couple around and each box has two good sized panels to work with.

Tape: Duct tape or packaging tape

TOOLS

box cutter or exacto knife
something to cut on: a piece of cardboard works but preferable is one of those cutting mats



Check out more of my work!
wastecog.tumblr.com (for a quick and fun but limited selection)
Wastecog.com (for a more in-depth look)

Comments

[Christian Reese]

Wow, that's a really neat idea. I'll definitelly try to persude the guys at the offcei we need to do a project like this.

[Dreamchronic]

Have to have thing:D

[johnnie777mx]

Nice!!!

[kukubee]

Lovely idea!

[FriendOfHumanity]

Excellent.

[MissMonkeyXXX]

Great idea! And you can apply it to organizing virtually anything, not just trash!

[PeckLauros]

good design

[sunshiine]

I like the design and the fact it looks nice also! Thanks for sharing your hard work and do have a splendorous day!
sunshiine

[Jessie Marie]

Cool design!

[picturesofsilver]

i love this idea!!

[SHIFT!]

This combines my favorite carnival attraction with my least favorite activity.

[darrenhall]

Hi - we live in a flat with no in house storage for recyclables either so the bins kinda just sit around looking horrid - - this is a fantastic idea - might not use the same materials but the design is great, plus could be pained to match our walls if I used MDF or such..

Thanks for such a brill instructable.

DZ

[dontstop1990]

Hey thanks, yeah i built it as a prototype while I was in a metal fab class and i was imagining making it out of sheet metal. But the cardboard prototype worked so well i kept it and thought of another idea for the class. Other materials might look nicer and I encourage you to explore, but dont under estimate the structural capabilities of cardboard!

[darrenhall]

Never - did you ever see the guy who built a bike out of cardboard on Youtube - fantastic build.

DZ

[dontstop1990]

Oh yeah, incredible

[GorillazMiko]

Nice touch with those cardboard hooks on the wall. So rad.

GM

[dontstop1990]

Thanks man!