Look familiar? Bus parts recycled

Metals are often melted at high temperatures to be moulded into other products during recycling. This process not only requires phenomenal amounts of energy, but also degrades the quality of the product.

Kowloon Motor Bus hopes to recycle parts from retired buses by turning them into useful products without having to apply such an energy-consuming process.

KMB donated more than 600 disused vehicle parts to the Hong Kong Design Institute for a project called 'From Seemingly Trash to Treasure'. The contributions allowed 20 second-year higher-diploma students in product design to breathe new life into the parts by creating 10 functional items.

The result: lamps, tables, chairs and even iPod speakers have been fashioned out of hand rails, engine parts and window panes.

The effort not only proves that it is possible to reduce the amount of energy needed to create new products from recycled materials, but also allows the sentimental value of old KMB buses to live on.

'There are limitless possibilities that students can work on with the parts provided,' institute lecturer Kelvin Kam said. 'We wanted students to come up with consumer products and not just sculptures.'

He believed that the challenge was greater in trying to create a product with a specific function. The project was a success because the students managed to save the parts from reaching the end of their 'product life cycle', he said.