NOTBAD NOTEPAD

A notepad made of recycled materials harnessing the power of the circular economy.

Makers Cabinet and Are You Mad paired up to create something useful and beautiful, entirely derived from local waste streams.

Introducing the Not Bad Notepad made entirely from recycled paper cups ad recycled plastic food containers, the pieces are modular so can be in turn recycled again. The first completely recycled, refillable and recyclable stationary - designed for the moments when we find ourselves scrambling for a piece of paper to note down that important information at a moment’s notice and showcasing how products can be made in line with the circular economy.

In the UK, 2.5 billion coffee cups are used and discarded annually. Only 0.25% of these cups are actually recycled.

We chose to woke with G.F Smith, a leading paper purveyor who source luxury paper using CupCycling technology. Used coffee cup paper and plastics are separated, pulped and turned into new rolls of paper in this process.

The Not Bad notepad uses sixty sheets of G.F Smith’s Extract Moon paper in 130GSM, made from recycled coffee cups. The paper is off-white, smooth and suitable for all writing instruments.

The backing of the Not Bad pad is made by us from HDPE milk bottles and cleaning products and the connector is PP plastic from food containers and food crates. From a block of recycled aluminium, Makers Cabinet machined a plastic injection mould allowing the molten plastic to be pumped into a precise form. The plastic is then cooled preserving the form in place for assembly and use.

Designing with problem solving at our core, we developed this modular and streamlined notepad, bringing the qualities of recycled materials to the forefront right down to CNC matching the metal mould for the connector, elevating waste materials to create something timeless and useful.