Colourful Collective turns plastics into planter boxes, stools and coffee tables

Two enterprising Melbourne women waging war on waste are turning plastic into everything from planter boxes to coffee tables. But it was a random request that inspired them to make a wedding dress with a difference.

Alex Childs and Sophie Dahm from Colourful Collective make new objects from plastic waste. Picture: George Salpigtidis

Want to get married and save the world at the same time?

Here are two people who can help.

Colourful Collective is a social enterprise finding new and innovative ways to use waste.

Fairfield’s Alex Childs and Bellfield’s Sophie Dahm have made it their mission to turn leftover plastic products into something people can value for generations.

“We want to create some beautiful things that people will treasure and not just chuck away,” Ms Childs said.

The pair have become so good at it that after a performance of one of their art projects a woman approached them out of the blue and asked them to make her a wedding dress from plastic.

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The bodice was made entirely from the polystyrene inlays inside milk bottle lids, the skirt from soft plastic ironed together and the train was an old fruit tree net found on the side of the road.

Some flowers were made from soft plastic and they even threw in a matching tie for the groom.

“She looked beautiful,” Ms Childs said.

“It’s pretty amazing to meet someone willing to do that on their special day.”

Now after a $7000 crowd-funding campaign Colourful Collective has turned its attention to furniture.

Using small pieces of plastic such as blue milk bottle lids, they will be making planter boxes, stools and coffee tables for those who donated.

Ms Childs said the dream is to create a self-sustaining business selling products made from recycled plastic.

“In my perfect world we quickly stop using plastic,” she said.

“Plastic waste is a resource and there’s so much of it around.”

“I guess it looks like rubbish but what we’re trying to do is make it look as beautiful as a wedding dress.”

“For one hour you make people laugh and smile and sing and it was really lovely.”

The beginnings of Colourful Collective have their roots in Colombia, where the duo met while studying university in Bogota.

Ms Childs said they immediately found they had a lot in common, including the amount of waste in the world.

“There are jobs out there, obviously we want to make money but only for the things we believe in,” she said.

They returned to Australia and began their dream of starting up an ethical business.

First, with a music group for asylum seekers and displaced members of society in Dandenong.

“It really inspired us to push on,” Ms Childs said.

“For one hour you make people laugh and smile and sing and it was really lovely.”

Then came the school workshops, educating children on the dangers of single use plastic and their heavy environmental impact.

Their latest project, Debris, is an art performance involving spoken word, music and a documentary with the elderly on what life before plastic was like.

The documentary will be available on Youtube by the end of the year.

Follow their ongoing projects at the Colourful Collective website.

@richardapearce