A broken iPhone means it's time to visit the closest repair shop or perhaps consider buying another phone. But a new service wants to take broken iPhones and do something different with them — transform them into entirely new objects.
Chris Koerner recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for his project, called Twice Used. The service takes broken iPhones and uses them to make everything from earrings to clocks to coasters.
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While working at an iPhone repair shop, Koerner noticed that many broken phone parts were just thrown away. That meant that those parts were likely to end up in landfills, potentially causing environmental damage.
Koerner believes that the kooky items he and his team now offer — like a wall clock made of 12 panes of iPhone glass — make better use of those discarded smartphones.
"There will always be a market for this," Koerner told Mashable. "People have always been and will always be breaking their phones... If it weren't for my repair experience, I wouldn't have known that these materials are harmful to the environment."

The parts used to create the unique pieces generally come from other repair shops.
And although iPhone users can't send their broken smartphones directly to Twice Used, anyone can purchase the items made from other discarded models by visiting Twice Used's Kickstarter site. The campaign site is designed to serve as a point-of-purchase until the team launches its own official website.
As Koerner explains, each design takes anywhere from one to 100 pieces to create. The Kickstarter campaign will help to cover expenses related to additional production materials and labor costs.
At the time of this writing, the campaign, which ends on December 18, has raised $2,220 out of its $10,000 goal.
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Image: Twice Used