Precious waste

B0 — Changing our minds about value

Designers are changing the way we think about waste. We use more resources each year than our planet can regenerate, with 1.75 planet Earths needed to support current demands on the ecosystem. By analysing the properties of discarded materials, designers are discovering new potential. The priorities are to consume less, to repair and reuse what we already have, and to recycle what we throw away.

This section of the exhibition considers how our ‘take, make, use and waste’ model of living needs to be replaced with a circular approach to design, manufacture and consumption. Such an approach keeps minerals, metals and materials circulating in the supply chain, rather than being burnt or buried.

Recycling electronic, plastic, textile and construction waste is flourishing, but this is often undermined by the availability of lower-cost virgin materials. Thoughtful design adds value to and demand for recycled materials, whether foraged sea plastic, gathered textile deadstock or reclaimed construction waste, and changes our perception of how recycled materials look and can be used.

B1 — The waste explorers

The technology we use every day, from mobile phones to cars, has been mass-manufactured using complex materials and processes, developed and refined over time. New products are often made of scores of materials, so it becomes increasingly difficult to answer the simple question: what is it made of? Contemporary designers are uncovering information about the materials and processes of the designed world, inviting new dialogues about the use of the Earth’s resources. With this knowledge, we can connect the things we consume to the raw materials and natural resources used in their manufacture, and in turn acknowledge the environmental and human cost of these materials.

015 — Making of Materialism, 2018

Film

“Making of materialism”, 2018

• Film: Xinix Films
• Duration: 4:36

016 — Materialism ‘broom’, 2020

• Materials: Bassine, pine, beech, steel, copper
• Materialism ‘Broom’
• © 2020 DRIFT

Materialism ‘Dyson vacuum cleaner’, 2018

• Materials: ABS, PP, PVC, rubber, steel, PU foam, polyester, copper, nylon, aluminium, HDPE, graphite, brass, magnet
• Materialism ‘Dyson Vacuum Cleaner’
• © 2018 DRIFT

017 — Materialism ‘Big Mac menu’, 2021

• Materials: water, bread, fries, Coca Cola, fat, meat, paper, sauce, cheese, salad, sugar, polystyrene, sesame seeds, onions, polypropylene, pickles, salt, paper
• Materialism ‘Big Mac Menu’
• © 2021 DRIFT

018 — Materialism ‘Starbucks cup’, 2021

• Materials: water, paper, recycled paper, coffee, polystyrene, wood, polyethylene, glue
• Materialism ‘Starbucks cup’
• © 2021 DRIFT

019 — Materialism ‘iPhone 4s’, 2018

• Materials: Glass, stainless steel, polycarbonate, LiCo, graphite, PVC, PMMA, fibreglass, copper, polyethylene, PET, aluminium, silicon, silicone rubber, PVA, Kapton (polyimide) tape, ceramic, magnet, tin, PEN + PET, nickel, foam rubber, silver, tantalum, phosphorus, nylon, tungsten, gallium, cobalt, arsenic, gold
• Materialism ‘iPhone 4S’
  © 2018 DRIFT

020 — Materialism ‘Nokia 3210’, 2018

• Materials: PC + ABS, nylon (PA), aluminium, PC, ABS, glass fibre, mischmetal, glass, nickel hydroxide, PVC, epoxy, steel, tin, paper, PET, photoresist polymer, ceramic Al2O3, adhesive, copper, rubber, PU foam, iron, tantalum, silicone soft, PP, magnet, felt, brass, germanium, gold, nickel
• Materialism ‘Nokia 3210’
• © 2020 DRIFT

021 — Renoleum – material research project

Dutch product designer Christien Meindertsma visits manufacturing plants to investigate how materials, processes and design can be made environmentally sustainable. In 2019, for the manufacturer Forbo, she researched the potential for recycling old linoleum flooring (‘lino’). Lino is a carbon-neutral material made from linseed oil, wood dust and chalk, backed by jute, but once discarded it becomes rigid, dry and hard to recycle. Meindertsma discovered that old lino could be rejuvenated simply by feeding it through a calender machine, with rollers to flatten and make the material flexible and reusable once more.

• Materials/source: Linoleum and renoleum samples from a 1990s sample book, before and after processing in the calender machine.
• Materials/source: Linoleum and renoleum samples from a 1990s sample book, before and after processing in the calender machine
• Design: Christien Meindertsma, 2019

022 — Renoleum – material research project

Dutch product designer Christien Meindertsma visits manufacturing plants to investigate how materials, processes and design can be made environmentally sustainable. In 2019, for the manufacturer Forbo, she researched the potential for recycling old linoleum flooring (‘lino’). Lino is a carbon-neutral material made from linseed oil, wood dust and chalk, backed by jute, but once discarded it becomes rigid, dry and hard to recycle. Meindertsma discovered that old lino could be rejuvenated simply by feeding it through a calender machine, with rollers to flatten and make the material flexible and reusable once more.

• Materials/source: Linoleum and renoleum samples from a 1990s sample book, before and after processing in the calender machine.
• Materials/source: Linoleum and renoleum samples from a 1990s sample book, before and after processing in the calender machine
• Design: Christien Meindertsma, 2019

Photos

“Discarded linoleum”

• From Dalton College Alkmaar, the Netherlands
• © Christien Meindertsma

“The Forbo factory calender machine”

• With rollers that flatten the linseed oil, wood dust and chalk mixture into sheets of linoleum
• © Christien Meindertsma

023 — From bottle back to bottle  –  The steps of plastics recycling

People often think that recycling is simple and easy. However, there are many processes involved in getting materials back into use again. This series of posters is a graphical interpretation of the steps that transform a used product, like a plastic bottle, back into a usable material. While recycling is complex, it is worthwhile as a recycled plastic bottle’s carbon cost is up to 70% lower than using virgin PET.

• Materials:  Waste ink letterpress printed on Extract, Moon 130gsm supplied by G F Smith with waste litho ink supplied by Caverts.coop. Extract is made with fibres recovered from paper cups collected through the CupCycling system and processed at James Cropper Ltd.
• Design: Sophie Thomas, 2021

024 — Rematerialize – A library of possibilities

The designer and advocate for sustainable and circular design Sophie Thomas has gathered a library of materials in different states of recovery. This collection of samples and labels are a resource to better understand an extensive range of new materials and their potential use by designers and manufacturers. The process of transforming waste into a functioning material is complex. By both hand and machine, it is collected, sorted, washed and processed, which takes both time and energy. Using recycled and recovered materials reduces the demand for raw materials and conserves natural resources and the use of energy – for example manufacturing a plastic bottle with recycled PET rather than virgin PET reduces CO₂ emissions by up to 70%.

• Design: Sophie Thomas, 2021
• Many of these materials were originally collected as part of the ‘Rematerialize’ library for The Great Recovery project, 2012-2016

B2 —Reclaiming precious resources

Today’s wealthy countries have few shortages, but a growing and unchecked abundance of waste. By collecting, sorting and reusing waste materials, they can be transformed into useful, meaningful and desirable ones. There is so much waste material in circulation that, increasingly, there is less need to mine the Earth for certain metals. Organised and ethical local processing is essential to ensure these resources are put back into circulation.

Designers are helping to evolve systems for recycling, from small-scale community-based initiatives to high-tech and scalable technology. By making furniture from recycled sea plastic or regenerating old textiles into new high-quality polymer fibres, designers are expressing the versatility, beauty and potential of these precious materials, meeting new demand and securing a place in the supply chain.

025 — Sea chair – a stool made from ocean plastics

Sea Chair is made entirely from plastics recovered from the ocean. Collaborating with fishermen, Studio SWINE collected plastic at sea, separating it into colours and types before shredding, melting and moulding it, using seawater to cool and set the plastic. By documenting the quantity of plastic fishermen ‘catch’ in a single trip, the project highlights the amount of plastic in our oceans.

• Material/source: Ocean plastic collected at sea, including fishing nets, post-consumer waste and single-use packaging
• Design: Studio SWINE – Azusa Murakami, Alexander Groves, 2011

Film

“Sea Chair”

• Concept and design: Studio SWINE
• Director: Juriaan Booij
• Music: Elisa Luu
• Duration: 3:20

026 — Chubby chair – a 3d-printed chair made from old fridges

Dirk van der Kooij experiments with recycled plastic from discarded household fridges to create sustainable products. The irregular beauty of recycled plastic is expressed in this playful chair, made using a self-built plastic-extruding robot that is programmed to squeeze out layers of thick tubes of recycled plastic to form the shape of the chair.

• Materials/source: Recycled plastic from discarded fridges
• Design: Dirk van der Kooij, 2012
• Design Museum Collection

027 — Endless flow rocking chair – a 3d-printed chair made from old fridges

This chair has been 3D printed using plastic recycled from discarded fridges. A computer-controlled robotic arm extrudes a continuous thread of molten plastic to build the chair in just over three-and-a-half hours. Using an ex-factory printer, designer Dirk van der Kooij adjusts the program to change the form and texture of the finished design.

• Materials/source: Recycled plastic from discarded fridges
• Design: Dirk van der Kooij, 2011
• Design Museum Collection

028 — 1-inch reclaimed stacking chair – made with industrial recycled waste

This robust mono-block stackable chair is made from 90% industrial waste. It uses offcuts and waste from plastic factories mixed with discarded wood and sawdust from lumberyards. The chair is intended for robust, high-use environments, inside and outside. The modest form does not signal its use of recycled materials, but they are expressed in a subtle, warmly imperfect surface texture.

• Materials: 88% waste polypropylene, 2% waste wood fibre
• Design: Jasper Morrison, 2018
• Manufacture: Emeco, United States
• Design Museum Collection

029 — Plastic Baroque Armchair – waste plastic squeezed from a gun

Designer James Shaw uses a self-made plastic-extruding gun to ‘pipe’ confectionery-like pieces. Transforming rigid synthetic waste into objects of value, the action of the flowing plastic as it exits the gun is clearly expressed in the lively forms of Shaw’s furniture.

• Materials/source: Extruded low-grade recycled HDPE from Veolia plant, east London
• Design: James Shaw, 2020

030 — Gravêne 6.7 chair – made from 100% industrial waste

The Gravêne chair is made by pouring molten polyethylene into a one-sided mould. This coloured plastic comes from A. Schulman, a leading plastics manufacturer specialising in polyethylene colouring. During production, the plastic, reduced to powder for better packaging, circulates through various ducts that may retain traces of previous plastics. To ensure a perfect colour, the plant systematically discards the first hundred kilos of each production run. This production step generates up to 10 tonnes of scrap every month, which Maximum recovers and melts down and makes into furniture. The scrap’s change in colour results in a gradient pattern that gives each of the chairs a unique personality. The seat legs use 200-year-old oak off-cuts from the barrel-producer NT Bois.

• Materials: upcycled plastic and bicentennial oak
• Design and production: Maximum, 2015

031 — The Tyre Collective – a device to collect microplastics at their source

Engineers and scientists at the Tyre Collective are developing a device to be attached to car wheels that will capture tyre wear, a microplastic pollutant. Tyre particles are released into the air every time a vehicle brakes or turns, affecting our lungs and settling into our waterways. The Tyre Collective converts particles of tyre wear into useful products, such as shoe soles, playground surfaces and rubber bricks.

• Materials: Steel frames, plywood, motor, bicycle wheel, sandpaper, copper, PLA
• Design: The Tyre Collective – Siobhan Anderson, Hanson Cheng, Deepak Mallya, Hugo Richardson, 2020
• Manufacture: Currently in research and development

032 — Sample kit – an overview of recycled plastic

Companies sometimes throw away too little plastic to start a recycling cycle with the big recycling companies. To avoid these stagnant stocks, La Plastiquerie takes them back and recycles them, preventing them from ending up in incineration or landfill. This sample kit enables La Plastiquerie to show its customers the diversity of plastics it is able to recycle, which are regularly updated with new plastics from local companies. Depending on each plastics’ texture and thickness, these little tablets give an idea of the inherent qualities of plastic: strength, durability and colour variation.

• Designer: La Plastiquerie, 2023
• Type and origin of plastic :
• #01.1 and #01.2. Polypropylene (PP) Akilux: Sourced from a cosmetics company based in Cestas, Akilux is used to protect fragile items.
• #02.1 and #02.2. Polypropylene (PP): sources from offcuts from the production of medicine tubes by a large pharmaceutical company based locally to La Plastiquerie.
• #03.1. Polyethylene (PE): Sources from PE pipe offcuts used to install gas and water networks.
• #04.1 : Polypropylene (PP) : sources from supports for laboratory testing of blood samples.

Plastic production: La Plastiquerie

033 — The Eclipse wall lamp – highlighting the infinite possibilities of plastics

Eclipse was born out of designer Julie Robert’s experiments with waste plastics. As a member of La Plastiquerie, she set up her workshop and produces articles from all kinds of plastics collected at waste centres and industrial manufacturing sites, such as flower pots and cleaning product cans,. As each plastic is unique, the designer creates unique lamps where the plastic is ornamental and does not require any perfect mechanical characteristics. The design plays with colour, translucency, opacity and roughness. Recycled plastic becomes precious, almost mineral at times. She calls it “the marble of the Anthropocene”.

• Designer: Julie Robert, 2022
• Plastic production: La Plastiquerie
• Type and origin of plastic: Polypropylene (PP) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) sourced locally in the Bordeaux region. Various deposits.
• Aluminium support manufactured by: Faro
• Bulb: 60W mirror

034 — Precious Plastic – An initiative for recycling in the community

In 2013, Dutch designer Dave Hakkens launched Precious Plastic, a global community focused on plastics and their recycling. The idea is to make open source the plans for various low-tech machines needed to set up a microfactory, available free of charge to everyone. Today, this community has more than 540 branches around the world.

La Plastiquerie – From sourcing waste plastic to project delivery
La Plastiquerie joined Precious Plastic France in 2022. This workshop supports designers and interior architects in the creation, prototyping and production of made-to-measure objects and small to medium-sized furniture. It was founded with a responsible approach and commitment to the circular economy and ecological transition.”

Film

“Precious plastic universe: a big bang for plastic recycling “

• Film-maker: One Army, Precious Plastic, 2020
• Duration: 2:00

035 — The Effet Mer small table – helping to protect the oceans

Effet Mer is a beach shelf made of waste plastic  to protect your belongings from the sand.. You can slide your book under it to read in the shade. It is an object that raises awareness of the plastic that pollutes the sea and threatens marine life. To underline this issue, designer Grégory Brunet has included an embossed stamp in the shelf, and invites users to stamp the beach with messages and drawings that raise awareness of the need to preserve the marine environment. Assembled using notches, the small shelf is made from recycled plastic obtained from hospital waste, and recycled fabric from sand yachts.

• Type and origin of the plastic: 50x50cm sheet of Polypropylene (PP) from the operating theatre at Hôpital Robert Picqué, Bordeaux.
• Pouch made from recycled sand yachting sails
• Designer: Grégory Brunet, 2023
• Plastic production: La Plastiquerie
• Project manager: Galerie des Curiosités

Photo 1

• The notch assembly method of the Effet Mer beach shelf.
• Credit: Grégory Brunet

Photo 2

• Temporary environmental messages in the sand that are erased by the waves.
• Credit: Grégory Brunet

036  — Adidas x Parleyfor the Oceans trainers – a pioneering design with recycled fishing waste

These trainers use only recycled plastic. The upper is made from rescued deep-sea gill nets, the rest from plastic washed up on the coastline of the Maldives. The government of the Maldives commissioned environmental group Parley for the Oceans to help manage the problem of marine plastics pollution. Since 2017, more than 25 million recycled trainers and other garments have been produced by adidas.

• Materials: Recycled gill nets, ocean plastic collected from the Maldives
• Design: adidas and Alexander Taylor, 2016
• Manufacture: adidas x Parley for the Oceans

037 — The crossed-out wheeled bin – a pictogram to promote WEEE recycling

The crossed-out wheeled bin pictogram was set out in standard NF EN 50419 in accordance with article R543-177 of the French Environment Code in 2015. It reminds consumers never to dispose of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the household waste collection, as it is subject to a separate collection system that guarantees its decontamination and recycling. Products put on the market after 13 August 2005 must be marked with the symbol with a solid line underneath. It is still possible to use the logo without the bar, but a date (month-year) must be indicated.

038 — Ore Streams – Documenting the steps of e-waste recycling 

Where do our digital devices go when we throw them away? This film explores what happens to e-waste when it is recycled and explains why this waste stream, which is full of precious metals, is so valuable. Filmed through videos playing on a series of smartphones, the film tangibly illustrates devices being discarded and replaced. The film is part of a larger, three-year investigation into the impact of electronic and digital waste called ‘Ore Streams’.

Film

“System of recycling”

• Concept/Design: Formafantasma – Andrea Trimarchi, Simone Farresin, 2018
• Graphic design: Studio Joost Grootens
• Design and development: Jeroen Van De Gruiter
• Research and development: Johanna Seelemann, Nicolas Verschaeve
• Filming: Johanna Seelemann, Nicolas Verschaeve
• Voice-over: Claire Bocking, Miriam Yang
• Voice-over texts editor: Tamar Shafrir
• Animation, video editing and renderings: Martin Gaillard
• General assistant: Simón Ballen Botero
• Commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, and Triennale Milan
• Duration: 3:22

039 — Dealing with electronic waste – a global challenge

WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. It includes small and large household appliances including computers and telephones, toys and games consoles, and more. Worldwide, levels of electronic waste being discarded are increasing every year. When properly collected and treated, 80% of e-waste can be recycled and the many rare and precious metals they contain, such as gold, copper, steel and aluminium, can be reclaimed for reuse in new products. 20 to 25 kg of WEEE per person are produced every year in France. Recycling e-waste creates jobs and helps prevent damage to the environment.

Photos

Reconditioning of household appliances, dismantling and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) by the Envie network of new economic integration companies. Since 1984, this network has been helping to collect, treat, recycle or reuse damaged appliances, while reintegrating people who are excluded from employment.

Treatment for reclaiming the metals from screens.
© Gael Kerbaol / Divergence

Storage of livebox remote control and Orange waste before shipment
© Gael Kerbaol / Divergence

WEEE recycling, treatment chain, Strasbourg
© Pascal Bastien / Divergence

WEEE recycling, reception, Strasbourg
© Pascal Bastien / Divergence

WEEE recycling, reception, Strasbourg
© Pascal Bastien / Divergence

040 — Circulose® – textile recycling that closes the loop of fashion waste

Worldwide, 25 million tonnes of cotton and viscose go to landfill every year. Textile recycling generates new jobs and reduces the need to grow cotton – a land-, water- and energy-intensive process. Swedish manufacturer Renewcell has developed Circulose®, a new material made from cellulose recovered from worn-out clothes, creating a circular production-loop for textiles.

Materials/source: Post-consumer textile waste/sorting factories across the European Union
Design: Renewcell, 2012–ongoing
Manufacture: Renewcell

Photos

1. “Bale of collected jeans”
2. “Renewcell’s newest factory”
   Built in 2021, it doubled their recycling capacity to 60,000 tonnes per annum
3. “Sheets of circulose®”
   Ready to be shipped to manufacturers who will spin this sheet into thread to make new garments

All photos © Renewcell, Alexander Donka

041 — Fragment Dress, TXT DRS 358, layered over Apron Slip Dress, DRS 346 – new techniques for using waste

Currently, the United Kingdom offers little or nothing by way of commercial textile-recycling facilities or incentives to reuse pre-consumer textile waste. Rejecting the use of virgin materials wherever possible, Phoebe English developed her ‘fragment textile’ technique to use off-cuts from her own studio in her new work. She captures scraps of fabric between layers of outer materials to create a new fabric.

• Design: Phoebe English, 2019
• Manufacture: Phoebe English Studio

Fragment Dress TXT DRS 358

Materials/source: Outer – silk, organza. Inner – off-cuts of OEKO-TEX® 100 certified bamboo viscose left over from the previous season’s production ‘waste’, incorporated into the new season’s work

Apron slip dress DRS 346

Materials/source: OEKO-TEX® 100 certified bamboo viscose made using a zero-waste pattern-cutting technique

042 — Quilted Puff Jacket, JKT 402, with quilted puff skirt, SKT 403 – new techniques for using waste

Part of Phoebe English’s Nothing New Part 2 collection, these garments are made entirely from textile waste and reassess how we value it. The collection uses reclaimed textile waste from across London to minimise fibre miles, and pre-consumer ‘waste’ materials, such as surplus or left-over fabrics. Considerable effort has gone into sourcing and setting up non-traditional waste supply chains. This garment is made with tubes of reclaimed silk wool, stuffed with silk off-cuts, gathered from the previous season’s waste.

• Materials/source: Reclaimed silk wool sourced from studios and factories in London and stuffed with organza silk offcuts from the studio’s production, topstitched to create a quilted effect, Codelite® buttons made from milk products
• Design: Phoebe English, 2020
• Manufacture: Phoebe English Studio

043 — Stella McCartney – a circular approach to fashion design

A pioneer of sustainable high-end fashion, Stella McCartney has consistently developed and championed ways to reduce the environmental impact of her designs. Her approaches include developing plant-based alternatives to animal-derived materials, using waste or deadstock in her collections, and supporting innovative material technology to replace virgin cellulose or synthetic materials. She recently published a manifesto that outlines her brand’s ethos and pledges future action. Entitled A to Z, it starts with ‘Accountable’ and ends with ‘Zero Waste’.

Koba® coat and trousers

• Materials: This fur-free fur is made from a new soft fibre called Sorona®. Created from 37% plant-based materials with recycled polyester, it can be recycled back into PET at the end of its life. The trousers are made from 100% recycled polyester from plastic bottle waste.
• Design: Stella McCartney, Autumn 2021 Collectio

Econyl® jacket and trousers

A regenerated nylon yarn, Econyl® is made from ocean and factory waste. It is one of the most sustainable synthetic options currently available.

• Materials: ECONYL®, made by Aquafil, Italy
• Design: Stella McCartney, Summer 2019 Collection

044 — Book bag, all our children collection – making changes in fashion

For Bethany Williams, waste inspires new techniques and production methods creating innovative results. Here, waste book covers from production at the Hachette Book Group are woven together using deadstock yarns donated from Italian mills. This woven textile is then waxed to stabilise it and ensure a water-resistant coating. The final bag uses vegan leather.

• Materials/source: Waste book covers from Hachette Book Group, Italian deadstock yarns and vegan leather
• Design: Bethany Williams, 2020
• Manufacture: Waste material woven by San Patrignano, Italy, bags made by Stevan Saville, London
• Test/experiments: Woven material using waste textiles and book covers
• In collaboration with Magpie Project UK

045 — All patched up, jersey jacket and trousers – making changes in fashion

The United Kingdom-based fashion designer Bethany Williams confronts both environmental and social issues in her work. Her All Our Children collection celebrates and supports the Magpie Project UK, a Newham-based initiative that works with local children and mothers who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Inspired by drawings made by the children, the collection uses a variety of waste materials such as deadstock (unsold or unused material), second-hand garments and book cover waste from publishing. Williams also uses sustainably sourced materials, such as organic, hand-woven wool fabrics.

• Materials/source: Second-hand tracksuits donated by adidas and sourced from Stuffstr, Traid and YKK
• Design: Bethany Williams, All Our Children collection, 2020
• Manufacture: Bethany Williams Studio, with Ade Laniyan – Making for Change, Poplar, London
• Illustration: Melissa Kitty Jarram
• In collaboration with Magpie Project UK

046 — Multi-layer packaging waste – a textile woven from industrial waste

This woven material is made from non-recyclable, multi-layered plastics, which are produced in abundance across the globe. Applying traditional hand-weaving and craft techniques to this waste material, it is converted into a high-value textile. The intention is to reduce disposal and minimise the use of raw materials.

• Materials/source: Multi-layer foil-backed plastic packaging waste, India
• Design: Shubhi Sachan, 2021
• Manufacture: The Material Library of India

Film

“Material library of India, multi-layer plastic upcycling”

Duration: 1:57

Photo

“Waste material at Uflex Ltd, one of the largest multi-layer packaging producers and recyclers”

© Material Library of India

B3 — Reuse — valuing what we have

By investing time and skill, our attitude to the things we throw away or no longer want can be reframed. To prevent waste, designers and architects are creating work that values the discarded by reusing, repairing or adapting what we already have. The desire for the new or different is hard-wired but, by making things more relevant to our needs and aspirations designers can greatly reduce carbon emissions.

The arguments against repair – that something does not warrant the investment of time or skill – ignores the embodied carbon held in our ‘stuff’. This is the amount of greenhouse gas released during the extraction, production and processing of materials and products. A new-build house in the United Kingdom releases the equivalent of around 45 tonnes of carbon dioxide in its construction. The same that would be released if you drive around the Earth ten times.

047 — Mended bags – highlighting the value of repair

Textile artist and mender Celia Pym practises visible repairing, a process that draws attention to the wear and tear sustained by our clothes. This exposes the past life of the piece and the person who wore it. During the United Kingdom’s COVID-19 lockdowns, Pym turned from repairing clothes to repairing the paper bags from her daily grocery shopping. Careful darning gives each bag a new and different life. At a time of fear and uncertainty, the project gave hope that something torn and worthless could again be cherished and become significant.

“Mended Pastry Bag”

“Mended Postcard Bag”

“Mended Potato Bag”

• Materials: Reused paper bags, wool, linen and cotton
• Design and repair: Celia Pym, 2021

048 — Repair Café — a community that never throws things away

Repairing things together, with the help of expert volunteers, is the idea behind the Repair Cafés, which are open to everyone. Tools and equipment are available at Repair Café venues to carry out every conceivable repair: clothing, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, toys, and more.

Repairing a broken object means consuming less and therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but it also means passing on technical know-how and therefore supporting a sustainable future in a circular economy.

The Repair Café movement was launched in 2007 on the initiative of Dutch environmentalist Martine Postma. Many cities around the world now have their own Repair Cafés, including the one here at the Carrefour Numérique in the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie (level -2).

iFixit – a website and community promoting the repair of electronic devices

iFixit is a global online community where people teach each other how to repair broken electronic items. The site publishes repair instructions and manuals rating the difficulty of projects. It sells spare parts and tools, such as the iPhone 4 screwdriver, that can be used to open devices that are usually only able to be opened by specific companies or specialists. Since 2003, IFixit has also been lobbying governments, with some success, to introduce legislation on reparability.

Repair Manifesto by iFixit

It exists in many languages: the French, English, Spanish and Japanese versions are presented here.

049 — Nokia G22 – a repairable phone made in collaboration with repair advocates

• Smartphones make a huge impact on the environment. The longer we keep our phones, the smaller their carbon and material footprint. In March 2023, the Finnish mobile manufacturer Nokia released a phone that can be repaired easily by the user. The phone was designed in collaboration with experts and repair activists from iFixit, who advised on the most commonly requested repairs, created simple-to-use guides for each component and now sell  replacement parts and tools on their website. This phone, and the partnership, show that companies are beginning to respond to the growing demand for more ecological products and systems as consumers’ assumptions about disposability change.
  
• Materials/source:
• Metals: Stainless steel, copper, zinc, aluminium. ~0.1-0.2% precious metals (11%)
• Ceramic materials: Glass, other ceramics. (9%)
• Plastics: ABS/PC, PET, PA, epoxy (9%)
• Battery: Composed of lithium and cobalt, graphite, aluminium, copper (37%)
• Other: Non-metals such as silicon. Other materials such as adhesives. (34%)
• Design: Nokia, iFixit, 2023
• Manufacture: Nokia, HMD Global

“Charging Port Assembly Replacement Part”

• Design: Nokia, iFixit
• Manufacture: HMD Global

“Fix Kit for G22 Charging Port”

• SIM Card Eject Tool, iFixit Opening Picks, Precision Tweezers, Screwdriver, Spudger
• Design: iFixit
• Materials: Delrin (a stiff, engineered thermoplastic), steel

“Step-by-step guide for: Nokia G22 Charging Port Assembly Replacement”

Design: iFixit, 2023

050 — Maximum – a manufacturer using salvaged construction materials

Maximum is a manufacturer of mass-produced furniture that draws all its raw materials from the production waste of French manufacturing, construction and other industries. Maximum’s mission is to make salvaging waste an industrial solution for reusing materials. In its workshops in Ivry-Sur-Seine (94), the company designs and transforms unwanted materials into designer furniture. Since 2015, Maximum has produced over 7,000 pieces of furniture, giving a second life to over 100 tonnes of waste.

Film

“Butterfly Project”

• Production: Maximum
• Copyright: Alexandre Attias
• Duration : 4:17

051 — Maximum – a manufacturer using salvaged construction materials

Maximum is a manufacturer of mass-produced furniture that draws all its raw materials from the production losses of French manufacturing, construction and other industries. Maximum’s mission is to make salvaging waste an industrial solution for reusing materials. In its workshops in Ivry-Sur-Seine (94), the company designs and transforms unwanted materials into designer furniture. Since 2015, Maximum has produced over 7,000 pieces of furniture, giving a second life to over 100 tonnes of waste.

Table Bupo – a desk made from doors

Over 70 million tonnes of materials are discarded every year when buildings are demolished. With Bupo, the doors of commercial buildings become office tables rather than being thrown away. The doors are stripped of all their accessories and transformed through industrial joinery. Precise digital machining bends the laminate to transform a simple flat door into three-dimensional office furniture.

• Material: salvaged solid door
• Design and manufacture: Maximum, 2022

052 — Clavex 67.0 coffee table – a table diverting waste from the dumpsters

Tempered for safety reasons, the glass partitions used in the building cannot be re-cut and consistently end up in landfill. Here, instead, the sheets of glass become key components of the Clavex tables. The legs, meanwhile, are scaffolding recovered from the scaffolding producer Altrad-Plettac. Damaged by years of rental, and therefore unsuitable for supporting workers safely above the ground, they nevertheless retain all the engineering properties that enable them to be assembled into solid table legs.

• Materials: salvaged tempered glass, scaffolding, epoxy paint
• Design and production: Maximum, 2015

Définition

Upcycling consists of creating something new from something old, without transforming the original material (fabric, plastic packaging, office door, piece of scaffolding, etc.). This material is then reused to create new products of superior quality, giving a new life to used products. But unlike recycling, which involves a process of transformation of the raw material and reduces value, an upcycled object gains in quality compared with the original product. Upcycling could be translated as “recycling to a higher level”.

053 — Systems of building material reuse – a series of films shot in salvage yards

During the covid lockdowns of 2020, students at the Architectural Association in London were asked to investigate the ecosystems of building material reuse in their local area. These short films give a glimpse of various reuse practices, ancient and modern, in Morocco and England.

Film

“A rural reclamation yard in the UK”

• Film-maker: Ele How Yan Mun, 2021
• Duration: 7:25

Film

“A souk for second-hand building materials in Casablanca, Morocco”

• Film-maker: Jihane-May Slaoui, 2021
• Duration: 4:21

054 — Film

“Imaginaires de transformation: Lacaton & Vassal et Frédéric Druot”

• Film-maker: Karine Dana
• Duration: 21:05

055 — Transformation of three social housing blocks of 530 units, ‘Cité du grand parc’, Bordeaux, France, 2011–2016

Pritzker Prize-winning architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal see architecture as a tool to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities, but without negatively impacting the environment. They use materials sparingly and relish the restrictions of a modest budget. When transforming three blocks of social housing in Bordeaux, France, Lacaton & Vassal added generous light-filled balconies and winter gardens that respond to the needs of the occupants while respecting the integrity of the original architecture.

• Client: Aquitanis O.P.H. de la Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux (CUB)
• Design: Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal with Frédéric Druot and Christophe Hutin
• Engineers: Batscop (working site coordination), Secotrap Ingénierie (concrete structure, systems), CESMA (metallic structure), CARDONNEL Ingénierie (thermic), Vincent Pourtau (cost)
• Landscape architect: Cyrille Marlin

Photos

1. “Before and after: building exterior block G”
   © Philippe Ruault
2. “Before and after: building exterior blocks H and I”
   © Philippe Ruault
3. “Cross section of block G, showing the addition of balconies and enclosed winter gardens”
   © Philippe Ruault

056 — Croft lodge studio – retaining a ruin

This United Kingdom-based architectural project questions the emotional and environmental cost of demolishing and building anew, which means that resources and history are lost, rather than reusing or remodelling old buildings. The designers built a modern design studio with guest accommodation around a dilapidated 300-year-old ruin located in a rural area in the middle of England, preserving its structure and original contents, including dust and dead bats. The ruin would otherwise have been demolished and its materials burnt, creating unnecessary carbon emissions.

Film

“Croft lodge studio: David Connor & Kate Darby”

• Film-maker: Jim Stephenson
• Interviewer: Rob Wilson, The Architects’ Journal
• Duration: 4:36

• Materials/source: Oak-framed architectural ruin of brick and lime plaster from 18th century/Leominster, Herefordshire. Addition includes locally fabricated steel frame, softwood and PIR ‘seconds’ insulation and plasterboard. Externally clad with OSB board, softwood timber and black corrugated steel manufactured locally.
• Design: Kate Darby Architects and David Connor Design
• Build: Completed 2016

Photos

1. “Fireplace and bread oven with decorative figures”
   ©James Morris
2. “Old window with new window”
   © James Morris