#HTE

What Is A Bottle Cutter For?

The Plastic Bottle Cutter by Pavel & Ian will make spaghetti out of your recyclables. This hand-held shredder has already blown past its Kickstarter goal and you still have weeks and weeks left to pick up your own. Why do you need one? The makers believe it will help with recyclability by helping in the reuse department.

The design seems to be based directly on the traditional strap-cutter used in leatherwork, and the output is pretty obvious. Plastic! In strips! Can you use it in a weed whacker? Does it recycle more easily? We’re not sure.

Crafts? You betcha.

Since the tool is effectively a notched wooden rectangle with an adjustable throat and a slot for a box cutter, the mechanics are pretty straightforward. Cut the bottom off your bottle, fit it in the gap, twist, and start pulling out plastic ribbon.

At risk of being way wrong about the demand for DIY plastic strip art, this thing is a simply designed tool for an uncertainly defined need. According to the suggestions here, DIY plastic cord could be used around the home and garden as a durable alternative to wire and rottable twines. They also (more sketchily) advocate it’s use for load-bearing capacities as well.

Need a tow? I’ve got a Pepsi and a bottle cutter in my trunk.

Reduce, reuse and recycle are all important parts of a more ecological demand and production cycle (and ordered by importance). But does this speak to a need for more plastic twine, to a craft movement I’m unaware of, or to the need to reduce our dependence on disposable plastics?

Why do so many people want one? What would you use it for?