Why We Believe Reusing Materials Still Matters

Trench Art from Mike's Collection

We’ve been celebrating a couple of 80th birthdays recently and, as always, the conversation eventually turned to “the good old days”. One of the recurring themes, prompted mainly by grandchildren’s “new phone every year” outlook, was the contrast between a generation that grew up needing to make do, mend, repair and hand things down, compared to today’s rather disposable “just buy a new one” mentality. I’d love to see them try to get a new pair of boots before at least one set of holes had been repaired!!

Long before environmental sustainability became a modern corporate phrase, previous generations simply understood a practical truth: resources should not be wasted. Materials were repaired, repurposed and reused wherever possible — not because it was fashionable, but because it made sense. Britain has a long tradition of making careful use of available resources, particularly during times when waste simply was not an option.

During the Second World War, the now famous Make Do and Mend campaign encouraged people to repair clothing, repurpose household items and make existing materials last for as long as possible. It was not about trends or branding. It was about recognising value in the materials already around us and ensuring nothing useful was discarded unnecessarily.

Interestingly, those same principles can be found throughout military history itself. Collectors and historians will be familiar with the tradition of Trench Art, where soldiers transformed spent shell cases, damaged equipment and battlefield materials into useful or decorative objects. Often highly skilled and deeply personal, these items became lasting reminders that even in the harshest conditions, people found ways to repurpose what was available rather than waste it.

Trench art featuring the poppy design now widely associated with remembrance

Where Mike grew up, he remembers a man called Mr Parker, a former Japanese prisoner of war. Mr Parker walked everywhere, all day, quietly picking up tiny pieces of discarded rubbish, particularly matchsticks. These he transformed into perfect miniature gypsy caravan models — small pieces of art and beauty created entirely from things other people had thrown away. It was a habit born from experiences he had endured during the war, and one he was never truly able to leave behind.

As a small business producing handcrafted military display products and 3D printed model kits, it has always seemed odd to us that in less than a hundred years, society has moved from carefully utilising every available resource to a world where laws, such as the delightfully named "Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)" now have to be introduced simply to persuade manufacturers to use materials responsibly.

The 3D printing process itself does create waste and we are constantly trying to find better ways to repurpose it — to be honest, not entirely successfully so far. However, we have always believed that the same principles should apply across all of our processes, including how we package the products we send to customers. Responsible packaging works best when it follows practical decisions that reduce waste naturally, rather than sustainability becoming little more than a marketing slogan.

At both Oaths of Allegiance and 762mm, we deliberately use compact cardboard shipping boxes sized to minimise wasted space and keep unnecessary packaging to an absolute minimum. Many of our products, particularly framed military displays and memorial poppies, are fragile by nature and need to arrive safely, so protection during shipping is important.

However, protecting products does not mean surrounding them with excessive waste.

Where additional cushioning is required, we use inflatable air cushions that consist primarily of air, require very little plastic, and are fully kerbside recyclable after use. Or hang on to it all and feel smug as you safely pack everything at Christmas!!

The filament used in our 3D printing process arrives packaged to protect materials during transport. Unfortunately, the plastic film surrounding the filament cannot be recycled, so instead we repurpose it to give it another lease of life. Rather than immediately discarding those materials once they have served their original purpose, we reuse cardboard spool centres and protective wrapping as internal packaging when preparing customer orders. After all, a GPMG kit is always going to take up more space than an SMG kit, so something has to fill the gap.

Quite simply, if a material already entering our workshop can safely protect an outgoing parcel, it makes far more sense to reuse it than purchase additional packaging unnecessarily.

Interestingly, society now seems to be rediscovering many of these same habits.

Across the UK there has been a growing rise in repair cafés, community reuse groups, upcycling projects and local organisations encouraging people to repair and repurpose everyday items rather than automatically replacing them. In many ways, these modern sustainability movements are simply rediscovering the practical common sense previous generations practised naturally.

For a small businesses like ours producing hand-made military items, what we do is not driven by marketing departments or corporate sustainability statements. It comes from a much simpler philosophy of remembrance and respect, both for the people and the planet: make it right first time, use what you have, waste as little as possible, and reuse materials whenever practical.

So when you get your model kit and the box also contains some oddities, remember that responsible packaging is not about appearing environmentally conscious for the sake of appearances. It is about making sensible decisions, respecting resources, and recognising that materials still have value long after their original purpose has ended.

It is not a new idea. Like us, it is simply an old one worth remembering.