These helmets are made from recycled copies of Metro (Picture: Tom Gottelier

Your Metro is not just handy for catching up on the latest news – it could also provide life-saving protection if you fall off a bike.

Inventive design students are recycling copies of the newspaper to make eco-friendly cycle helmets. Costing just £1 to make, the headgear meets stringent European safety standards and they could be coming to a Boris bike near you very soon.

They are seen as vital in helping to reduce road accident casualties and could be distributed free-of-charge with the 8,000 bikes belonging to the Barclays bicycle hire scheme.

Bobby Petersen, who designed the paper helmets with fellow students Tom Gottelier and Edward Thomas, said: ‘We have done some initial drop tests which indicate they are safe… it is a product that is really needed.’




The helmets were unveiled at the Royal College of Art’s graduation show in Kensington, west London. They have already been nominated for the Mayor of London’s low carbon prize.

Also unveiled at the show was a carbonised bowl made out of old vegetables and bones.