will.i.am wants to make recycling ‘cool’ to appeal to younger generations.
will.i.am photo by Ros O'Gorman
The musician has teamed up with Coca Cola to support new sustainability and recycling initiative Ekocycle, which has been designed to raise awareness and funds for environmental causes.
The Black Eyed Peas star is known for his keen interest in fashion and art and wants to bring these elements to the recycling process.
‘If you think about [recycled] products now, none of them are cool,’ he was quoted by NY Daily News. ‘You have to bring some art and fashion sensibility into this technology that turns a bottle into something cool.’
will.i.am has helped to design a range of clothes and accessories under the Ekocycle brand.
The first product to be released will be a pair of headphones by Dr. Dre range Beats, with the hope to lure more famous design names to the worthy cause.
Other recycled products in the planning will include bicycles, shoes, handbags, glasses or even high-end furniture.
will.i.am has been known to support charitable community projects and recently said he wants to be remembered for more than just his music.
‘I know I will be [in music] 20 years from now. But it won’t be the only thing I’m doing. These days, it’s science and technology that I think about most. Every day for four years I’ve thought about making products, or doing something in the social connectivity world and I’m looking for code writers at the moment to realise this. I wanna go back to school and take a computer science class,’ he told British newspaper The Guardian. ‘I’m planning the next 20 years. I wanna still be relevant in popular culture but it ain’t gonna be for music. I don’t wanna be like, ‘Remember this song! [Sings] I gotta feeling!’ I don’t want to be doing this when I’m 57!’
