photo by El_Enigma (Flickr Creative Commons)

It was only three months ago that southern China was suffering from its worst drought in living memory. Now the heaviest rains in over a decade are causing floods, mudslides and other destruction there, as well as threatening the integrity of the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in Hubei province.

According to a BBC report, Chinese authorities have stated that the recent flooding left 823 people dead and 437 missing, the latest count including 37 deaths after a bridge collapsed in Henan province and a further 21 who are feared dead due to mudslides in Sichuan province.

From a separate BBC report:

Recent bad weather has killed 1,250 people in China, government officials say. The economic losses across the country are estimated to be more than $22bn (£14bn).

The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest hydroelectric project, but its recent water flow has reached just 10% under the dam’s maximum capacity.

From an Associated Press report:

Thousands of workers sandbagged riverbanks and checked reservoirs in Wuhan city in central Hubei province in preparation for potential floods expected to flow from the swollen Yangtze and Han rivers, an official with the Yangtze water resources commission said. “Right now the Han river in Hubei province is on the verge of breaching warning levels,” said the official, who gave his name as Zhang.

China’s monsoon rains usually slow in August, but whether this turns out to be the case this year is impossible to accurately predict.

Graham Land

Image Source: Screen capture from video.

Sometimes people create amazing things from recyclable materials. These creations can range from artwork to the latest green gadget. This week, I am going to tell you about 3 awesome things made from recycled products.

Australia’s Printer Cartridge Bike Path
The problem with regular paved roads is they always seem to need maintenance. Every time you turn around, they’re doing work on the same stretch of road all over again. The same old methods don’t seem to be cutting it like they used to but finding something new that works can take a lot of time. Well, someone has come up with a rather unique way to bridge the gap between the old and the new (or renewed)—at least where bike paths are concerned—and it’s located in Australia’s West MacDonnell National Park. The path in question stretches from Alice Springs to Simpsons Gap and it includes a bridge made from recycled printer cartridges! The cartridges come from Replas Recycled Plastics, which are made by Repeat Plastics Australia. Apart from being made from a recycled product, it also ensures that more wildlife is saved and less maintenance will be required on the bridge than other portions of the path.

Egg Carton Lamps
This creation comes from the artistic mind of Victor Vetterlein. Dubbed the “Trash Me” lamps, every piece of these lamps is recycled or recyclable. It all starts with 4 paper egg cartons which are mixed with water. Then, the mixture is placed into a mold to give the lamp its unique shape. Once dried, everything is secured in place with aluminum screws. Finally, the electrical pieces of the lamp are also recyclable and it’s filled with birdseed to give it weight and balance. Yes, it does work and when it’s reached the end of its life, you can either recycle it or take it apart and create something of your own.

The Lego Printer
Yes, you read those 3 words correctly. Someone has built an open-source, working printer out of Legos, a felt-tip pen, and some garage electronics. The printer will print in the Helvetica font at 75 dots per inch, but that’s not the best part. The best part is the printer comes complete with little Lego men attached to the moving parts, so it looks like a mini Lego assembly line! How awesome is that? You can actually check out a video of the printer on YouTube and here’s a description from the creator himself:

“”Lego felt tip 110″ printer connected to an Apple Mac. This is not mindstorms, I designed/built/coded it all from scratch including analog motor electronics, sensors and printer driver, the USB interface uses a “wiring” board.”

You can find more information (including a list of FAQ) on the YouTube video page here.

That’s all the recycled bits for this week. If you’ve created something great from recycled products, tell us about it!

By Heidi Marshall