7 beautiful and sustainable design materials made from waste products
Insight
7 beautiful and sustainable design materials made from waste products
Material 'Sea Stone' by newtab-22
One of our favourite aspects of sustainable office design is coming across innovative new materials that are as easy on the eye as they are on the environment.
What’s even more exciting to us is discovering the story behind these products. Especially those that have the most unexpected of beginnings.
In a previous Insight on sustainable wood alternatives, we talked about one such product called Chip[s] Board. A revolutionary bio-plastic and sustainable alternative to MDF and chipboard with an unlikely key ingredient - potato peelings.
It is a fantastic example of how forward-thinking designers and manufacturers are exploring the circular economy and reimagining waste to create valuable new materials.
And there are plenty more where that came from.
Here are some of our favourites.
Dutch designer Mieke Meijer created NewspaperWood by flipping the traditional process of turning wood into paper on its head, giving what is generally thought of as an end product a new lease of life.
Made by gluing together and tightly packing sheets of old newspaper, NewspaperWood has a beautiful, wood-like grain and can be cut and sanded.
We love the idea of using fine sheets of it as a veneer on walls or cabinetry.
SILICASTONE Terazzo by Alusid
2. Silicastone
One of the things we love most about sustainable materials created from waste products is that often no two surfaces are quite the same.
Which is certainly true in the case of Silicastone.
Manufactured by Alusid, this stunning product is almost exclusively made from recycled glass and porcelain and comes in a variety of organic colours.
It can be used both internally and externally as worksurfaces and façades to add a unique character to the built environment.
HONEXT BOARD
3. Honext Board
Every time paper is recycled its long fibres become shorter and shorter. Sadly, that means there are only so many times paper can be recycled before it breaks down into a seemingly unusable sludge.
Luckily, the clever people at Honext saw incredible potential in this waste product and used it to create Honext Board, a lightweight, durable material that can be cut, drilled and sanded in exactly the same way as wood.
Made from post-consumer cellulose fibres that are broken down by enzymes, compressed and dried, Honext board is non-toxic, fire retardant and a great thermal and sound insulator.
What’s more, it can be recycled an infinite number of times making it truly a zero-waste product.
Genius.
Interior wall panel made with material Sea Stone by newtab-22
4. Sea Stone
Studio newtab-22 are a curious bunch. They’ve been busy experimenting with overlooked, natural materials to suggest possible sustainable design solutions for the future.
Their latest project, Sea Stone, is a wonderful example of how they are working to create beautiful materials from waste by embracing the qualities of the waste product itself.
Every year, 7 million tons of seashells are discarded by the fishing and aquafarming industries. Some of these are turned into fertiliser. However, the majority is sadly left to rot along coastlines or in landfill.
Studio newtab-22 recognised that the high volume of calcium carbonate found in these unwanted shells, which is similar to levels found in limestone, meant they could have a potential use as a stone-like biomaterial.
Once collected, the shells are processed, ground and mixed with mineral, sand and natural binders to make Sea Stone, which comes in a variety of colours and finishes and can be used to create exquisitely detailed wall finishes.
5. Recycled ocean plastics
Plastic is a miraculous material.
It’s durable, strong, lightweight, waterproof and can be shaped into just about anything. It’s also non-biodegradable, which is why it’s such an enormous problem that sadly 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, severely damaging our marine environments and the health of the wildlife that lives within them.1
But the issue isn’t necessarily plastic itself. It’s the linear economic model we follow whereby plastic goods are produced, consumed and discarded.
Fortunately, scientists and manufacturers have been busy coming up with innovative ways to prevent plastic waste by turning items that would otherwise end up polluting our oceans into new and sometimes unexpected forms.
Global commercial flooring company Interface for example has partnered with the Zoological Society of London to buy discarded fishing nets from some of the world’s poorest fishing communities, providing them with a valuable new source of income. The nets are then recycled into yarn to create a variety of carpet tile products.
Meanwhile, furniture supplier Humanscale incorporates almost two pounds of recycled fishing net into their stylish and functional Smart Ocean chair.
COCOA by Paula Nerlich
6. COCOA
Award-winning designer Paula Nerlich has given us yet another reason to love chocolate.
Her ground-breaking COCOA material is made with waste generated by local industrial chocolate production such as cocoa bean shells to create a solid, shiny material that not only looks good enough to eat, but is even said to smell like chocolate.
COCOA is still in its development phase. However, with many possible applications within the built environment we think this sustainable and potentially antibacterial vegan biomaterial is definitely one to watch.
7. Tômtex
And finally, a textile product with a most unlikely pairing of key ingredients.
Tômtex is an entirely bio-based material made from shell seafood waste and discarded coffee grounds that can be used as an affordable and sustainable alternative to faux and animal leather.
It is plastic free and 100% biodegradable. Making it even more eco-friendly than vegan leather, which is often made using toxic polyurethane.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about some of the fascinating ways that designers and manufacturers are working to create extraordinary sustainable materials from ordinary waste products.
We’re always on the look out for the latest in sustainable design innovations so be sure to check out our Instagram page for more inspiration for your sustainable workplace transformation.
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