Nov.30, 2013
British designer Alkesh Parmar created a series of objects under the Cradle to Cradle philosophy, the idea to create waste-free systems. His new project focuses on creating new material derived from food waste.
"The solid waste peel, which is a by-product of a juice and fruit salad manufacturing, has become a major environmental problem," writes Parmar. "It has a rich mixture of peel, segment membranes and seeds most of which is used for livestock feed and can be toxic to farm animals."
Image: Alkesh Parmar
Parmar focuses his work on the inedible leftovers from oranges, lemons and other hesperidia fruits. He dried, blended them up and mixed them up with a secret combination of all natural, organic binders and transform them into sustainable materials. The tools that he used were reused items that he modified according to his needs.
"I have been engaged in the research and development of this waste raw materials with aims to achieve a fully biodegradable sustainable material. It is shown that the waste peel, if processed in a particular way, can be transformed into sustainable material and products with desirable flexibility and strength that could replace conventional non-sustainable ones." says Parmar.
The whole design process has been carefully thought out with energy and water levels kept to a minimum. Parmar gave it the title 'APeel' and there is a patent pending on it. APeel maximizes the use of natural resources, creating added value by taking the waste from existing processes to produce final products that are environmentally friendly, sustainable and biodegradable. The resulting material is firm and strong and can even be made into a flexible sheet with a wide range of potential uses. And as an extra bonus, they smell fruity!
Below is a short research video showing experiments into 3D print manufacturing process with APeel.
Posted in 3D Printing Materials
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For some applications where repeatability, strength and resolution are not critical, this could be economical. Fun to think about end-uses.
misan wrote at 12/1/2013 2:21:15 AM:
Alginic acid may be used as binder if not much strength is needed.