Car Materials to Use for Upcycling

With how easy it is for people to buy cars in the Philippines, steel tubes and other car parts tend to clutter up the junkyard. Eventually, there will be nowhere else to put them. Luckily, with the rising trend of upcycling, there are multiple ways to use these car parts and turn them into something new. Here are a few examples:

Steel Tube Bike

Why not turn one form of transportation into another? Rcicla Bicicletas from Portugal did exactly this by building a bicycle from the scraps of a car back in 2013. They did this project by upcycling car parts into bike parts.

The company was able to successfully finish this venture by using the following car parts:

• steel tubes and structure
• structural reinforcement bar
• engine sprocket
• engine belt tensioner
• engine timing belt
• door handles
• rooftop and seat upholstery
• rear lamp
• dipstick
• chassis ID plate
• light reflectors

Tire Slippers

Tires are one of the most replaced car parts there are because tire layers will wear off no matter how you use them. Because of this, one car will use many tires during its lifetime and all of them end up in the junkyard. They end up being a large portion of the total garbage there.  Eventually, there won’t be a place to put all of them.

It’s a good thing that a company called GomaVial has found a genius way to help deal with this problem. They do this with their “TireFlops,” which are slippers made from tires. They make these with a new technology called “Tire Deconstruction,” which allows them to recycle the tires while retaining all the properties of its three layers. As a result, they are able to create a slipper with the grip of a car.

Leather Jackets and More

You could use the leather in an old car to create your own stylish leather jacket. A company, called Platinum Dirt based in Oakland, USA, does exactly this. They reclaim leather from old cars and furniture to create jackets, bags, and wallets. They even use the hood ornaments to decorate these items. This special added touch makes these upcycled leather items into a must-have for people, who love wearing apparel and accessories that have stories to tell.

Car Door Cabinet

This one works best with classic cars because of their stylish designs. A Dutch Designer by the name of Jeroen Weaseling created a cabinet from a classic car, the Citroën 2CV, and called it the Cabinet 2CV, which is pretty witty!

He just took two doors from the car and combined it with Medium-Density Fibreboard to create the beautiful cabinet. The windows add a nice touch and allow people to see the upper part of the inside of the cabinet. Also, it has the actual sound of a car door opening and closing when you use it.

Cars are just one of the many examples of things you could upcycle. Not only is upcycling attractive to the eye, but it is very good for the environment as well. Instead of throwing away your car—along with some of its parts—use it in creating something unique and out of this world!