Let’s be honest, if you’re a teenager, and you need to use an inhaler, it’s not going to enhance your street cred. They’re medical devices and that’s exactly what they look like. But it needn’t be that way thanks to the Hue Inhaler. According to its creator, Tim Zarki, the Hue Inhaler is “meant to make a bold statement instead of being of a source of self-consciousness” about asthma.  Each inhaler comes with a wide array of vibrant colours, from orange to neon green, and in much sleeker design than the regular devices. At the moment, the Hue Inhaler is in the development phase, but it seems to have huge potential.

Glasses and hearing aids used to be drab and utilitarian, but that’s now changed with bold and stylish designs being available. This idea could do the same for the asthma inhaler.

So the obvious question is – what next? What other dull and depressing medical aid or device is set for a stylish makeover?

Most of us would simply buy a new bike if we needed one, but what if you could lease one on a monthly subscription and quickly have it repaired or replaced if it broke down?  That’s the premise behind  Swapfiets , a private bicycle leasing scheme taking the Netherlands by storm.

The Delft-based company offers bicycles at rates from €12 to €15 per month, including repair and maintenance. All bike repairs or replacements take place within 12 hours. The lease formula is very flexible, and can be cancelled at any time.

In its first year the company has provided bicycles for 5,000 customers, and has deployed across nine Dutch cities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven. The bikes, easily recognisable by their blue front tyre, are particularly popular among students. Swapfiets says about 35% of first-year university students in Delft use the formula.

Might this work here in the UK, particularly in student towns where bicycles are popular? I’m pretty sure it would.

Every year over 810,000 office chairs are thrown away in the UK alone. While it’s easier to recycle some of the small parts of the chairs, a lot of the bulkier elements end up in landfill sites. Birmingham City University student Thomas Howell Jones examined the larger parts to see how they could be recycled and decided that the backrests were ideal as hard-shell backpacks and bicycle panniers. The backrests act as a protective shell, and are waterproof and impact-proof, making them the ideal carrying device for cyclists. The idea has won an award at the RSA Student Designs Awards.

Recycling and upcycling is a hot trend at the moment. So what else that we all throw away on a daily basis might be turned into something useful?

www.bcu.ac.uk