If there's one thing that makes me vomit in my mouth, it's plastic gadgets painted silver.

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I tend to avoid bottled water—my tap-water's fine and way cheaper—but since millions don't think the same, this concept from designers Brand Image would be a way to reduce the eco-impact of all those nasty plastic bottles. The 360 is a paper bottle, molded from 100% recyclable, food-safe paper, and its simplicity makes even the venerable cardboard Tetra Pak drinks carton look outdated. These things are almost "printed-out," they stack, are re-sealable, and look fab. These ought to be real, and when they are I hope they get the texture of the "lip" right: you don't want fuzzy cardboardiness there. [Core77]

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Using a white LED heatshrinked to fit on the ends of these pieces of broken CD tray plastic, Keith Neufeld created a really cool lighting system for an art installation, which could just as easily find its way onto your wall at home, if you are one for soldering and breadboarding. The whole thing is wired to a microcontroller that can cycle the lights on and off in sequence, and eventually respond to user interaction in the finished piece. Just be sure you don't strike yourself down with any jagged edges. [Keith's Electronics Blog via MAKE]

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Anyone who's read about the sickening, Great Pacific Garbage Patch will know that plastic is a danger to the environment. But this plastic bag chair will make it all OK for the next few minutes as the reality of man destroying the planet melts away to cute furniture. Designed by Ryan Frank, the seat is constructed from recycled aluminium coated in plastic shopping bags. And it not only looks fashionable—it looks comfortable (though the reality is probably more akin to sitting on cold metal once your butt sinks through the plastic). Frank didn't come up with the idea entirely on his own, however. This piece inspired him first:

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For those who enjoy pizza by the slice, these Kar chairs operate in a similar fashion. Each piece is ordered individually to add a layer of thickness to the seat until your desired dimensions are met, combined until you build a chair (small), loveseat (medium) or football bench (X Large - future gastric bypass). Also of note, those who enjoy numerous pizza slices will find a corresponding satisfaction sitting in the seats with more slices. Each Kar module runs US$150, so plan on eating in for a while to afford an entire chair. [Opulent Items via bltd]

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Designer Matt Clark has come up with Innervision: a prototype polypropelene bike designed to be fully recyclable. And, incidentally, to look rather cool indeed. The frame is in two parts, which are welded together: an inner frame with strong triangular truss-structure and an outer frame for a better look. Both split into two, so the bike is easy to manufacture. For now it's made of new plastic, but Matt intends future ones to be made of recycled polypropylene. Apparently it rides well, thanks to that stiff inner body. And it's got a pretty good theft deterrent system: anyone hacksawing it free from a bike lock would have a useless half-bike. Unless they bought the toy plastic welder perhaps. [Bike Commuter via Gadget Lab]

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The Discovery Power Welder's sales pitch is fantastic, and worrying: "discover the power to make and create with the tool that safely welds plastic to plastic." And sure, the kit comes with specially-crafted parts that'll let your little-ones knock together a plastic dinosaur, plane or car. But what happens then? Do they start tackling their Lego collection with it, or decide to weld your iPod to your vacuum cleaner? Ok... so it's battery powered, and probably doesn't get all that hot, but we know just how "inventively naughty" kids can be. For just US$30 this could allow your children to fuse your credit cards into one lump, never to be used again. [Product page via Random Good Stuff]

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Electronics manufacturer Hoshino has just announced "the world's first biodegradable USB disk." It's constructed of the corn-based plastic polylactide, and just in case you forget that fact, they've shaped the drive like an ear of corn. We don't have a lot of information on the device, but it appears they've figured out how to make the entire drive biodegradable, not just the casing (though that cop-out is certainly a possibility). Since most of our electronics we're using right now won't be part of our daily arsenal in two to three years, it's good to see manufacturers at least considering how we'll dispose of all this junk. [Hoshino via Gearlog]

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Friend of Giz and contributing editor Brendan I. Koerner was on the Colbert Report last night to school Stephen on ways to save the environment. Koerner discussed the paper/plastic debate, using air conditioning vs. windows, and whether it's cheaper to buy CFLs or regular bulbs. Colbert let the green-concious Koerner off pretty easy, but he did manage to raise a fascinating point: If CFLs weren't meant to be licked, why do they look so damn delicious? [The Colbert Report, Brendan Koerner]

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One day Wii controller attachment manufacturers are going to run out of plastic, and the world is going to be a better place. But until that day, there's going to be a seemingly never-ending tide of white plastic crap like this "Laser Sword" attachment from French company Subsonic. It's kind of like what Wilson found last year with the Wiimote Light Sword, but adds in a motion sensor so Star Wars poseurs can activate the lights inside with a wrist flick or Star Wars kid ninja move. [Subsonic]

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