Recently I was contacted by the folks at repurposedMATERIALS, who shared with me some photos featuring a unique design:  ski lift cables were installed as hand-rails for a housing project.  Check out these pictures:

According to company representatives, re-purposing has both economic and environmental benefits that far outweigh that of traditional recycling:

Re-purposing is creative re-use. It is NOT recycling that has gotten all the buzz since the 1970s.  Remember, recycling requires huge amounts of energy to melt, grind, chip, or shred a waste stream into a useable raw material to manufacture something new.  With “re-purposing”, we deal with byproducts and waste that get a second life because they have value “as is”.

Other examples of re-purposing include using used rubber roofing membranes as pond liners and retired wine barrels as re-purposed trash cans.

Have you had occasion to use re-purposed materials?  Simply think the handrails above are uber-cool?  Share in the comments section of the blog!