State of the Art

Circular Economy, Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation

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Blue Economy, Gunter Pauli

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Circular Manufacturing

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Aquahoja

Aquahoja (2018), Neri Oxman and Mediated Matter Group.

Neri Oxman and MIT have developed programmable water-based biocomposites for digital design and fabrication. The biopolymers used in Aquahoja are all composed of chitosan, cellulose, pectin, and water. Research into chitosan as bioplastic for large-scale consumer products (created from shrimp and other crustacean species’ exoskeletons) has been ongoing for several decades. Cellulose polymers have been used to make plastic cups, while pectins and starches can also be used to make organic plastic films. “Derived from organic matter, printed by a robot, and shaped by water, this work points toward a future where the grown and the made unite.”

The Shellworks

The Shellworks (2019), Insiya, Amir, Andy and Ed from Royal College of Art and Imperial College of London.

The Shellworks and Feel the Peel are projects who present an alternative vision through upcycling waste by generating biodegradable polymers. The Shellworks are a series of machines that turn seafood waste into a biodegradable and recyclable bioplastic. They invented five manufacturing machines, called Shelly, Sheety, Vaccy, Dippy and Drippy, with which to transform the crustacean shells into different objects, being sure to not use any additives in the process that could affect the recyclability of the final product. Each of the other four machines exploit a specific property of the bioplastic solution to demonstrate its potential, resulting in different products such as anti-bacterial blister packaging, food-safe carrier bags and self-fertilising plant pots.

Feel the Peel

Feel the Peel (2019), Carlo Ratti Associati

The “Feel the Peel” prototype is a 3,10-meter high orange squeezer machine, topped by a dome filled with 1,500 oranges. When a person orders a juice, oranges slide down into the squeezer, while its peels are accumulated above, then transformed into bioplastic through a process of drying and milling. Once heated and melted, the polymer becomes a filament, used by a 3D printer incorporated into the machine.

Beyond Plastic

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The “Feel the Peel” prototype is a 3,10-meter high orange squeezer machine, topped by a dome filled with 1,500 oranges. When a person orders a juice, oranges slide down into the squeezer, while its peels are accumulated above, then transformed into bioplastic through a process of drying and milling. Once heated and melted, the polymer becomes a filament, used by a 3D printer incorporated into the machine.