an ocean full of opportunities

Useful information

Team members: Carolyn Raff
Country: Germany
Keywords: biomaterial algae compostable biopolymer colorful flexible natural translucent biodegradable

Short Description

"An ocean full of opportunities" is a research project about an algae based, compostable bioplastic.

Detailed Description

„An ocean full of opportunities“ is a multidisciplinary project between the fields of material development and surface design. The algae as a fast regrowing resource is the main source of inspiration and material base. Specific kinds of red algae and the extracted Agar powder is the base for this biodegradable and compostable biopolymer. The material can be recycled and made into a new batch of algae biopolymer or just thrown on the compost, due to its natural and absolut non toxic ingredients. Natural, used dye baths from dying textiles can be used to create different colored biopolymers as well as flowers or spices to create different surfaces. The material can, depending on the mixture, vary from a latex like behavior to a stiffer version that is closer to PVC. This material has a great spectrum of structures, colors and design and therefor a wide range of usability, from fashion to packaging.

Project Details

Does your design support sustainable production, embodying circular or regenerative design practices?: The material is compostable and only natural ingredients are used during the production. The algae biopolymer is recyclable within itself. That recycling process gives us the opportunity to use the resource algae to the maximum and reduces the amount of "virgin materials" used in the production. The biopolymer is dried with the heat of the sun or on rainy days, with leftover heat from a bio gas power plant in the neighborhood. The end of the lifecycle is either a recycling process or it can be put in the compost and can be digested by different microorganism.