Wasteholders
an open source platform for creative utilisation of waste streams
Wasteholders is an open source platform for waste valorization and its creative utilisation. Offering material and design recipes made from locally available waste streams, the website provides DIY-ers and small entrepreneurs relying on craft with necessary knowledge to redirect their practices towards more sustainable solutions. The project tackles several design objects as case studies using an example waste stream of white asparagus peels. Via experimentation, several processing techniques have proven successful and were therefore described in the biomaterial instructions and applied in the design process.
student: | Maja Rowecka |
project: | The Plant Project – Resilience Part II |
year: | 2024 |
The project aimed to explore the variety possible to achieve even when working with a single waste stream. White asparagus peels, being a fibrous material, exhibited good strength and binding properties, could be woven, dried, shredded, pulped, pressed and processed in many more ways to obtain different materials. Through these steps, four main processing techniques were developed – weaving with dried peels, pressing with no binder, binding shredded fibers with casein glue and making asparagus paper. To prove the viability of the created materials, each processing method was applied in one of the following product categories: jewellery, wall hangers or lamps. The objects were chosen to best exhibit the variety of waste material properties as well as to enable the potential website user to apply the designs in their practice step by step. Without significant equipment requirements and little processing, the jewellery provides a low entry point with high added value. The next example object, being a wall hanger cast from a mass of shredded asparagus and casein glue, presents a technique that can easily be applied in countless other designs including both casting in molds or sculpting freely. In the last category, lighting, material plays the main role. Molded or applied in a sheet, the asparagus peel paper presents a beautiful fiber texture and warm glow when illuminated.
The lamp designs were thought through to provide a maximum of variety for the user without having to invest in expensive equipment or produce molds especially for the model. Instead of instructing the wasteholder to print or CNC a mold for their lamp, the recipe suggests using everyday use objects such as bottles or bowls to serve that purpose. All of the designs and materials used to make them are available and described in detail on the Wasteholders website. The platform aims to build a community of users and create a shift towards designing with waste – not only as a material resource but also serving the purpose of tooling. By browsing the website tabs, wasteholders can discover more information on waste streams and where to obtain the material, how to color it in a natural way and obtain resources to join the community.
