Waste not, wontons: innovator recycled 32m restaurant chopsticks

Felix Bock started small but has built up a business that transforms the utensils into everything from new dining tables to staircases

The idea was born over trays of sushi. Felix Bock, then a PhD student at Canada's University of British Columbia, was venting his frustration over the scant interest in his proposal to use waste wood from demolition and construction sites. How, he wondered, could he convince people that there's no such thing as waste, but rather just wasted resources?

Chopsticks in hand, Thalia Otamendi, the woman who is now his fiancee, looked at him. She said: Felix, maybe you just have to start with something small,'" said Bock. And maybe it's the chopstick."