Research

I started by researching companies encouraging people to connect with the natural world. This was before our group was aware what our project will be about. Let it grow is a campaign that originated from a floral enthusiast Silke Tijkotte. It's purpose is to create greener cities - exposing the value of plants and flowers, they contribute to creating healthier and happier urban lives. This really inspires me since I really miss the nature in Rotterdam and my dream is that people connect with it the same way I do. It is a one perspective source, however it inspires to think how life can be lived this way. (1 main source)

When moving here I've noticed a lot of people are throwing their left overs not only on the streets but also in the parks. This made me think of the fact that they just don't care. Looking at this project made me realise that if people understood the value of the natural world they would appreciate it.

When discussing with the group we all agreed on creating a solution for the litter pollution problem.

I really got triggered by the question how much litter is thrown in the Netherlands per year, so I came across this article which shocked me->
60 million tons of waste is produced yearly in the Netherlands. I started wondering that even if people try to consume less for instance its almost impossible to still not throw large amounts of litter every week simply because all the products in the shops are packed from rather paper, plastic, metal material or glass.Of course recycling is the key,but it made me thinking how many people are actually recycling?

Overall, Dutch districts reused 50 % of their loss in the period 1998– 2012, which is still underneath the objective of 65 % as proposed by the European Commission in July 2014. The Dutch reusing rate, at roughly 50 %, is far over the EU normal of 42 %
Even if Netherlands is in the top 5 countries in Europe recyling it still hasn't solved the problem with littering outdoors.

I wanted to research similar proposed ideas to ours , as I was interested how have people handled their designs. What really grabbed me from this article was the Bloom Everlasting Chocolate by Connor Davey. He created packaging for each type of chocolate and when finished eating it you can plant it in the earth and a plant will grow out of it depending on the type of chocolate, so for instance if you had strawberry, a strawberry plant will rebirth from your waste.

To get aware how to create the seed paper we decided we will research individually at home. ( eventually we decided that this method is not working out for us)

I researched different ways of creating bio materials. One of them I came across was food leather. My friend recommended me to check it out. Turns out students from Willem De Kooning came across this idea when seeing how much food waste there is on the market. By pureeing the old fruit and removing its seed. By boiling them after the sugars in the fruit are activated, creating a strong sludge. Using molds they pressed the liquid in different shapes. I really thought this is a brilliant idea of creating out of something you will otherwise throw away.

Another source of inspiration I also used for this project is the movie "Given". The director is Jess Bianchi. It is a very subjective perspective,however facts from the movie are very scientific. The trailer is shown on the right-->
It is about a surfers family travelling around the world as a tradition living a simple life. They are very connected with nature and it really makes me think that we can all live a life like that. Free from materialistic needs, nice to each other, that the only true target is knowledge, that we can all respect the Earth and care for how we leave our waste behind. A specific part of the movie grabbed my attention. I didn't know that there is even a way of creating
rubber from trees by cutting them and collecting the sap, which I saw in this movie. (2nd main source)

The process of making

Bioplastic is also a way of creating bio material. It is plastic made from natural products, such as starch extracted from potatoes or corn, or from cellulose. They are in fact artificial biopolymers. However they can still be thrown on the streets- therefore they are not a solution.

Our idea was to propose a biodegradable packaging with seeds that when people throw on the ground will eventually grow plants from.

looked at two bio based designers

Dave Hackens is a dutch designer. He likes to create solutions for global problems. The project that grabbed my attention was a machine to boost plastic recycling. He created a work space inside an old shipping container with tools and machines inside that turn waste into valuable items. Especially plastic..For instance into iPhone cases or bowls etc..This design is very creative it is subjective but gives an opportunity to use plastic again and again for something useful

Isaac Monte is a designer with a fascination for unusual materials. His idea of the filter factory really impressed me. One of the biggest issues that have always irritated me was the cigarette buds people throw on the ground. Isaac explains that when this happens a lot of birds think they are food therefore poisons themselves.He wanted to solve this problem by creating a machine which pushes people to throw their cigarettes leftovers in there. The machine turns them into a nest for the bird after 300 of them and the lucky smoker can take a nest home.