Waste as a commodity
Design Academy Eindhoven LAB3 / 2012
Louise Knoppert Amanda Österlin La Mont Christian Frank Müller
Waste as a commodity
Waste as a commodity – an Animal Coffin. The brief was to work with waste as a commodity and investigate how waste could be used as a resource for a new material or product. The process started by analysing how and where waste is produced in our society today, collecting and categorizing waste materials based on properties and making experiments. The experiements where defined and turned into a final material containing five different waste materials, coffee grounds, potato starch, flour, human hair and cardboard. With this material an animal coffin was designed to give an opportunity to bid farewell of a beloved pet.
Process overview
Research Collectors
Producers
Retailers
Material
Raw material
Waste
construction
The project started with a profound analysis of different processes where waste is produced in the society. By looking at industries operating in different stages of the production process, we saw that waste is produced in all stages
surface
Consumer
Products
Waste
filler
glue
Waste
colour
Collecting waste
After the first analysis we started collecting different kinds of waste material and categorized them based on their properties. We grouped the waste materials in the categories: glue, filler, construction, surface and colour.
Material library
Combining different groups to find a new material.
construction
filler
surface
glue
colour
Experimenting
After collecting and categorizing the waste materials we made experiments by combining one waste material from each group. We combined the waste materials by using different mixing methods such as heating, melting, cooking, pressing, blending etc.
Samples from experiments
The experiments where divided in tree stages where we, after each stage, made an evaluation to select the most interesting waste materials to keep for further experimentation. We decided to only use biodegradable waste materials and to combine five waste materials that could easily be selected within a local area.
Experimenting methods
melting
compressing method
mashing into liquids/dusts
Final material selection
cardboard human hair flour vinegar potato starch coffee grounds When the selection of the final waste materials was made we started defining the final recipe and the exact amount to use of each waste material.
Final material
When the new material mixture was defined we started looking at suitable situations where the new material could be used. We saw that the new material, with its biodegradable, easy to shape and stiffness properties, would be most suitable for products that are used a short amount of time such as packaging, gardening products etc.
Production method
cutting
smashing
pressing
blending in liquids
drying
Logistics
When the final material was decided we researched about how to collect these different materials and where to get it from. To make a feasable product proposal we made calculations of the possible amount we could collect and how to collect it. We plan to produce the coffin in local, small-scale social workshops.
Defining product
We saw the opportunity to insert seeds in the material and use it in a situation where the material transforms into new resources, such as burials.
First prototype
We defined a shape and built a scale model of the coffin.
Second prototype
Currently we are in the process of redefining the shape, details and size to produce a test mould.
Technical drawings
Marketing
Animal Coffin
“Sit by the oak tree and remember your beloved pet.”
becomes nutrition for a new plant.
Label
“Sit by the oak tree and remember your beloved pet.”
Clear and simple! Our finished packaging does not distract from our coffin but enhances it with all necessary information.
Animal coffin S
An animal coffin in biodegradable material. When the coffin degrades the seeds in the lid start to grow and the dead animal and coffin becomes nutrition for a new plant.
Animal coffin
“Sit by the oak tree and remember your beloved pet.”
Coffin sizes
Coffin
Currently we are working with developing an urn to allow bigger animals to be cremated and buried with the same ceremony.
Urn
Natural resources A tree replaces the flowers
Flowers start growing
Processed and used in the society
“Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed”
Collected by local worker
Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier (1743-1794) Buried in the earth
Shredded and mixed
Burial ceremony
Seeds added to material mix
User with pet to bury
Material pressed and dried into coffin shape
Louise Knoppert Amanda Österlin La Mont Christian Frank Müller
Waste as a commodity
Waste as a commodity – an Animal Coffin. The brief was to work with waste as a commodity and investigate how waste could be used as a resource for a new material or product. The process started by analysing how and where waste is produced in our society today, collecting and categorizing waste materials based on properties and making experiments. The experiements where defined and turned into a final material containing five different waste materials, coffee grounds, potato starch, flour, human hair and cardboard. With this material an animal coffin was designed to give an opportunity to bid farewell of a beloved pet.
Process overview
Research Collectors
Producers
Retailers
Material
Raw material
Waste
construction
The project started with a profound analysis of different processes where waste is produced in the society. By looking at industries operating in different stages of the production process, we saw that waste is produced in all stages
surface
Consumer
Products
Waste
filler
glue
Waste
colour
Collecting waste
After the first analysis we started collecting different kinds of waste material and categorized them based on their properties. We grouped the waste materials in the categories: glue, filler, construction, surface and colour.
Material library
Combining different groups to find a new material.
construction
filler
surface
glue
colour
Experimenting
After collecting and categorizing the waste materials we made experiments by combining one waste material from each group. We combined the waste materials by using different mixing methods such as heating, melting, cooking, pressing, blending etc.
Samples from experiments
The experiments where divided in tree stages where we, after each stage, made an evaluation to select the most interesting waste materials to keep for further experimentation. We decided to only use biodegradable waste materials and to combine five waste materials that could easily be selected within a local area.
Experimenting methods
melting
compressing method
mashing into liquids/dusts
Final material selection
cardboard human hair flour vinegar potato starch coffee grounds When the selection of the final waste materials was made we started defining the final recipe and the exact amount to use of each waste material.
Final material
When the new material mixture was defined we started looking at suitable situations where the new material could be used. We saw that the new material, with its biodegradable, easy to shape and stiffness properties, would be most suitable for products that are used a short amount of time such as packaging, gardening products etc.
Production method
cutting
smashing
pressing
blending in liquids
drying
Logistics
When the final material was decided we researched about how to collect these different materials and where to get it from. To make a feasable product proposal we made calculations of the possible amount we could collect and how to collect it. We plan to produce the coffin in local, small-scale social workshops.
Defining product
We saw the opportunity to insert seeds in the material and use it in a situation where the material transforms into new resources, such as burials.
First prototype
We defined a shape and built a scale model of the coffin.
Second prototype
Currently we are in the process of redefining the shape, details and size to produce a test mould.
Technical drawings
Marketing
Animal Coffin
“Sit by the oak tree and remember your beloved pet.”
becomes nutrition for a new plant.
Label
“Sit by the oak tree and remember your beloved pet.”
Clear and simple! Our finished packaging does not distract from our coffin but enhances it with all necessary information.
Animal coffin S
An animal coffin in biodegradable material. When the coffin degrades the seeds in the lid start to grow and the dead animal and coffin becomes nutrition for a new plant.
Animal coffin
“Sit by the oak tree and remember your beloved pet.”
Coffin sizes
Coffin
Currently we are working with developing an urn to allow bigger animals to be cremated and buried with the same ceremony.
Urn
Natural resources A tree replaces the flowers
Flowers start growing
Processed and used in the society
“Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed”
Collected by local worker
Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier (1743-1794) Buried in the earth
Shredded and mixed
Burial ceremony
Seeds added to material mix
User with pet to bury
Material pressed and dried into coffin shape
