Biotextiles from the waste of the food industry A biodesign experience for sustainable tote bags

Main Article Content

Guilherme Giantini
Lígia Lopes
Jorge Lino Alves

Abstract

The environmental impact has become increasingly urgent by questioning the linear economic system. Its eventual change to the circular economy can contribute to the regeneration of natural systems and the mitigation of pollution and waste. In developed countries, waste in the food sector occurs due to the lengthening of production chains, as in Portugal, where around one million tons of food are lost annually. In contrast, the textile sector is responsible for up to 20% of the contamination of fresh water. An innovative solution to transform waste into resources could mitigate waste and pollution. Biodesign is a potential option due to its performance on the industrial production scale and in developing new biobased materials. This article aims to demonstrate the scientific-exploratory development of an alternative biotextile to cotton tote bags, whose disposal becomes plausible in the sustainable dimension only after daily use for 54 years. The methodology consisted of four stages finalizing with a prototype to verify performance and identify aspects to optimize. As a result, a commercial-size tote bag was obtained, whose biofabric presents a potential alternative option, still to be optimized, to textile materials whose industrial production is commonly unaware of waste and environmental pollution. In addition to the need to optimize the mechanical resistance of the biofabric studied, we concluded that the development of this experimental project allows testing the viability of emerging solutions to the harmful effects of the linear economy through design, manufacturing, and transformation processes of the material from a circular economy perspective.

Article Details

Author Biographies

Guilherme Giantini, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto

Guilherme Giantini is a Brazilian architect with a master's degree in Biomimetic Computational Design from University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. He is also a Master's student in Industrial and Product Design (MDIP) at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Oporto (FBAUP), Portugal. His professional and research interests span the fields of Biodesign, Sustainability, and Queer Theory.

Lígia Lopes, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto

Lígia Lopes is a Portuguese graduate industrial designer and participatory design activist with a PhD in Design from the Faculty of Architecture in Lisbon. She is an Assistant Professor in the Design Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Oporto (FBAUP), Portugal. She is also a researcher in the HEAD group (Health + Design Lab) at the Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture [ID+] and Ambassador of the Advanced Research Unit at Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna.

Jorge Lino Alves, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto

Jorge Lino Alves is a mechanical engineer and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Oporto (FBAUP), Portugal, Portugal. He is co-director of the Master in Industrial and Product Design (MDIP), director of the DesignStudio and the Additive Manufacturing Laboratory, president of the Portuguese Society of Materials and director of the Journal of Materials Science and Technology (SPM). He conducts research in the area of product development and additive manufacturing, has co-authored 5 books, and has published more than 500 articles.

 

References

Altan, B. (2020). Organic Design Education for Circular Economy. Industrial Designers Society of America, 1-8. https://www.idsa.org/educationpaper/organic-design-education

Anil, S., Chalisserry, E. P., Nam, S. Y., & Venkatesan, J. (2019). Biomaterials for craniofacial tissue engineering and regenerative dentistry. In Z. Khurshid, S. Najeeb, M. S. Zafar, & F. Sefat (Eds.), Advanced Dental Biomaterials (pp. 643-674). Woodhead Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102476-8.00025-6

Baptista, P., Campos, I., Pires, I., & Vaz, S. (2012). Do Campo ao Garfo. Desperdício Alimentar em Portugal (1a ed.). CESTRAS. https://www.cncda.gov.pt/images/DocumentosLegislacao/Estudos_e_Relat%C3%B3rios/PERDA_do_campo_ao_garfo.pdf

Benseñor, I. M. & Lotufo, P. A. (2020). Some lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic virus. Sao Paulo Medical Journal, v.138(3), 174-175. https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-3180.2020.138320052020

Canada BioDesign (Director). (2020). Canada BioDesign Conference—Panel 3: Disrupting the Linear Economy and Going Circular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq93GbLqIl4&ab_channel=CanadaBioDesign

Carvalho, H., Hirata, M., & Laiate, C. (2022). O urbano pós-pandemia: ensaio sobre as contradições da produção e apropriação capitalista do espaço sob a crise sanitária da COVID-19 no Brasil. Revista da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 28(2), 414–445. https://doi.org/10.35699/2316-770X.2021.32850

Claudio, L. (2007). Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry. Environ Health Perspect, 115(9), 449-454. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.115-a449

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2013). Towards The Circular Economy: Economic and Business Rationale for An Accelerated Transition 1. https://emf.thirdlight.com/link/x8ay372a3r11-k6775n/@/preview/1?o

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (n. d.). What is Circular Economy? https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

Esat, R., & Ahmed-Kristensen, S. (2018). Classification of Bio-Design Applications: Towards a Design Methodology. In DS 92: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference (pp. 1031-1042). https://doi.org/10.21278/idc.2018.0531

Farrant, L., Olsen, S. I., & Wangel, A. (2010). Environmental Benefits from Reusing Clothes. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 15(7), 726-736. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-010-0197-y

Freek, van E. (2016). La economía circular y las cuatro barreras que debe superar. Revista HAZ Fundación. https://hazrevista.org/rsc/2016/07/la-economia-circular-y-las-cuatro-barreras-que-debe-superar/

Grundling, R., Gazzola, R., & Araujo, A. (2021). Mercado Mundial do Alho: Tendências gerais e as implicações para o Brasil. In: Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Economia, Administração e Sociologia Rural, 59: Ações coletivas e resiliência: inovações políticas, socioeconômicas e ambientais. SOBER, 2021. https://doi.org/10.29327/soberebpc2021.343459

Gwozdz, W., Nielsen, K. S., & Müller, T. (2017). An Environmental Perspective on Clothing Consumption: Consumer Segments and Their Behavioral Patterns. Sustainability 9(5), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9050762

Hobson, K. (2016). Closing the loop or squaring the circle? Locating generative spaces for the circular economy. Progress in Human Geography, 40(1), 88-104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132514566342

Ibrahim, S., Riahi, O., Said, S. M., Sabri, M. F. M., & Rozali, S. (2019). Biopolymers From Crop Plants. En Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials Engineering. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803581-8.11573-5

Mena, C., Adenso-Diaz, B., & Yurt, O. (2011). The causes of food waste in the supplier-retailer interface: Evidences from the UK and Spain. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 55(6), 648-658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2010.09.006

Mestre, A. & Cooper, T. (2017). Circular Product Design. A Multiple Loops Life Cycle Design Approach for the Circular Economy. The Design Journal, 20(sup1), S1620-S1635. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352686

Michelini, G., Moraes, R. N., Cunha, R. N., Costa, J. M. H., & Ometto, A. R. (2017). From Linear to Circular Economy: PSS Conducting the Transition. In T. C. McAloone, D. C.A. Pigosso, N. H. Mortensen, Y. Shimomura (Eds.) 9th CIRP IPSS Conference: Circular Perspectives on PSS, 64, (pp. 2-6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2017.03.012

Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. (2018). Life Cycle Assessment of grocery carrier bags (Environmental Protection Agency No. 1985; Environmental Project, p. 144). The Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

Myers, W. (2018). Biodesign: Nature, Science, Creativity. Thames and Hudson.

Oxman, N., Ortiz, C., Gramazio, F., & Kohler, M. (2015). Material Ecology. Computer-Aided Design, 60(March), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cad.2014.05.009

Parfitt, J., Barthel, M., & Macnaughton, S. (2010). Food waste within food supply chains: Quantification and potential for change to 2050. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 365(1554), 3065-3081. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0126

Rahman, M. M., & Amin, T. (2017). Holistic Approach Towards Sustainable Fashion Industry (part 1). Textile Today. https://www.textiletoday.com.bd/holistic-approach-towards-sustainable-fashion-industry-part-1/

Ribeiro, O. (1987). Portugal, o Mediterrâneo e o Atlântico (5.ª ed.) Livraria Sá da Costa.

Stenmarck, Å., Jensen, C., Quested, T., & Moates, G. (2016). Estimates of European food waste levels. Estimates of European food waste levels. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. http://eu-fusions.org/phocadownload/Publications/Estimates%20of%20European%20food%20waste%20levels.pdf

Toprak, T., & Anis, P. (2017). Textile Industry’s Environmental Effects and Approaching Cleaner Production and Sustainability, an Overview. Journal of Textile Engineering & Fashion Technology, 2(4), 429-442. https://doi.org/10.15406/jteft.2017.02.00066

United Nations Environment Programme (2021, March 4). UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021

Valagão, M. M. (2011). Dieta mediterrânica, património imaterial da humanidade. Revista da APH 105, 24-27.

Virgens, N. S. das. (2019). Impacte Ambiental da Reutilização de Roupas: Um Estudo Exploratório da Associação Humana Portugal [Unpublished Master thesis]. Universidade do Porto.