I agree with previous posters that violins are not a major contributor to landfills (especially when people hold onto them for 100 years or more) and it makes no sense that replacing a wooden product with another made of a material made from, well, wood is more eco-friendly.

On a somewhat related note, in the second half of this video, Michael Dunne plays a homemade violin with a wooden box-like body. It comes after his rendition of Danny Boy, starting at about the 1:30 minute mark.

springer said
Amazing but weird too. Can u believe that a plain box with slots not F holes can sound as good as that.

Hard to believe, but then people have also made violins out of cigar boxes.

Guess you can put strings a fingerboard and a tailpiece on just about anything and get music out of it.