Print your city: Let’s bring back the public bench

As online shopping slowly erodes independent shops, our towns and cities are becoming increasingly homogenised. Furthermore, the important community spaces that existed not only to shop, but to meet, to use a public loo or to simply sit on a bench and watch the world go by are becoming ever more desolate as trees, public conveniences and benches are removed.

Print Your City! uses large-scale 3D printers to transform urban plastic waste into meaningful objects for the built environment. The group works to create so-called ‘closed loops’ for plastic by involving local communities in the literal shaping of their surroundings.

The technology of 3D printing enables closing the material loop of plastic with a short recycling path and a zero waste production process.

The throw-away lifestyle of contemporary cities has increased the demand for single use plastic packaging and plastic waste. In Amsterdam alone, residents generate an average 23kg of plastic waste per person annually (2015); enough to 3D print one bench for every 2 people every year.

We are an insurance company like no other

Not only are we Britain’s most ethical insurance company, we campaign for sustainable transport. Sometimes that means protesting until a school gets the zebra crossing they’ve been refused, or running 60 roadshows this year to encourage people out of their cars, or fixing bicycles for free. Supporting this work is easy – you simply have to take out cycle insurance with us, cover that just happens to be excellent.

Unlike other insurers we never devalue your bike. And if you ride a carbon bike, rest assured we will never have a cracked frame repaired – we will always replace your bike with a new one. How many other insurers can say that? Find out more

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Twenty seven years on, we continue to offer  home insurance, cycle insurance, travel insurance and breakdown cover  while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.