In the draft epilogue of his collection Les Fleurs du Mal, the French poet Baudelaire wrote to the city of Paris:
"You gave me your mud and I have turned it to gold."
Like Baudelaire, many poets around the world see beauty in their city's waste. And like a poetry anthology, this directory of upcycling projects is an Invitation to the Voyage, to inspire everyone, from local companies to new creators, to change perspective on waste.
Bodlr’s mission is to turn mud into gold in all cities, all countries.
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The story
Spleen
Few years ago, I got a deep interest in circular economy and sustainability. I soon realised how f**ked up our system is when I looked at the big picture of our society and its impact on our world: climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of resources,... Bombarded by daily depressing news and getting to know more about the challenges we’ll have to tackle, it deeply affected me. Things are complex, systemic, often complicated. Facing this reality, I felt frustrated and useless. Eco-anxiety got me.
Ideal
On the bright side, I discovered groups and communities of people tackling those wicked problems at their scale, locally, in their daily jobs or spare time. I myself wanted to do the same. And so did I, making my own products out of local discarded materials: a pair of headphones with speakers from broken ones and wood offcuts, a cap out of old and torn jeans, ... Like Baudelaire, I turned mud (and my bad mood) into gold. Bodlr was born.
City scenes
The roots of the concept was to create my products out of waste, locally. Discovering some peers during my research, I started to list those creators in the different cities around the world turning waste into value. This is what I share today with Bodlr, new pictures of cities beautifully transformed by those poets.
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Revolt
With Bodlr, I prompt everyone to Rethink the production process of our objects. Inspired by the principle of industrial ecology and blue economy, my aim is to see waste from someone Reduced as it would be Reused by someone else. Companies with by-products, creators in need for material, let’s start this systemic Revolt!
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Death
Our planet will survive, but we might not. Like Baudelaire, I sound pessimistic. However, it’s never too late to inspire everyone to do better. This project is just a start to take care of my surrounding, the planet and so myself. And like the poet, Bodlr might die unknown without changing the world, but it will definitely change mine.