Twice Used -- Turning broken iPhone screens into cool new stuff

Like so many things, my tiny iPhone can be a force for good or evil. Good when it shows me photos of happy kittens. Bad when it eventually dies and is buried in a landfill where it leaches mercury and other chemicals into the soil.

But does it have to be this way?


Not necessarily. Socially conscious entrepreneur and upcycler Chris Koerner wants to turn bad old toxic iPhone screens into something good. His just-launched Kickstarter project Twice Used will turn cracked iPhone glass into picture frames, clocks, coasters and more. His mission is to keep broken gadgets out of landfills by upcycling them into everyday objects.

While he was still in college, Chris started a phone repair business. Thanks to clumsy students who couldn't keep hold of their phones and wouldn't wait days for them to be repaired, a single store soon grew into a chain. 

The broken glass piled up. Chris saw another opportunity -- he found a way to have old glass screens recycled into new ones. Hooray! But only 75% of the screens could be recycled. That still left a lot of broken glass headed to the landfill. Why not upcycle it?

The Kickstarter page shows some of the products Twice Used will produce. 

I'm hoping he might make a clock out of broken glass, like this coaster. I think it's cool!

I also love the fact that Alabama's 2012 "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" wants to upcycle! Maybe capitalism is ok after all.

More information

• Cell phones all contain toxics, the older ones the most
• Toxic substances inside your mobile phone