under Green Products, Innovation We love it when designers find new, eco friendly alternatives to conventional materials — sugar based plastics, paint made from recycled plastic bottles, rubber made from dandelions — but just substituting a “green” material for a conventional one isn’t always the best idea. Take, for example, this cardboard vacuum cleaner by Vax, made from recycled plastic with an outer form that is constructed from the cardboard that it comes packaged in. Vacuum cleaners are made out of hard plastics for a reason — because they need to be durable. The best way to be truly sustainable is to make things that will last forever, not things that you can throw away without feeling bad about yourself. So in this case, we’re going to have to say that this particular use of cardboard is not the best idea. We commend the designer of the Vax ev vacuum for using recycled and recyclable plastic for many of the components but he could have gone a step further with the outer design.