recycle Plastik als nachhaltiges Kulturgut

Semesterprojekt
Methodische Gestaltungsübung, Sommersemester 2018
bei Prof. Mareike Gast, Anna Hoffmann, Karl Schikoree
2. Studienjahr Bachelor

shredding of plastic rubbish with DIY shredder from Dave Hakkens

injection moulding with DIY injection moulding machine from Dave Hakkens

scho – the truly recyclable toothbrush by Alexia von Salomon Normal toothbrushes are made of three different plastics and are therefore not recyclable. A toothbrush should be used for no longer than three months. As the toothbrush scho is a monomaterial product, it enables the consumer to recycle it easily. The handle and bristles of this toothbrush consist of one and the same material: polyamide. It is about creating a circular economy, which focuses on reusing the resulting waste. In the designed circle of scho, a toothbrush is recycled to a toothbrush. Photo: Martin Patze

HISCA – opens a bottle easily by Hannah Kannenberg Opening a water bottle is an everyday activity that you only become aware of when it becomes a problem. Thanks to its handy shape, HISCA (lat. “start opening!”) offers a simple solution due to its powerful leverage. A real relief for anyone who lacks strength in their hands. The screw cap is material-saving and designed for mass production by injection moulding. As with conventional bottle caps, the HISCA bottle caps are recycled by returning the bottle together with the cap to the deposit system. During the recycling process, the cap material polypropylene/high density polyethylen (PP/HDPE) is separated from the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) of the bottles and can be reused in its pure form for production. Photo: Martin Patze For its convincing inclusive design, this project was awarded with the first price of the Hessian State Award for Universal Design 2018 in the category ‘young talent’.

U.Shave – sustainable shaving for everyone by Irmela Krach Unlike conventional razors, which are made of different thermoplastics and elastomers that can no longer be recycled, U.Shave is made of the recyclable monomaterial polypropylene. It fits the standardised single-blade, which is recyclable as well, and has advantages like the reduction of skin irritations and no blockage of the blade by hair. Since the single blade is not connected to the plastic, the whole razor head is not replaced when a new blade is needed, but the blade is replaced. As U stands for unisex, the U.Shave razor sets an example against the gender clichés of the shaving industry. Photo: Martin Patze

Hang On – a washer hook by Jasmin Schauer Hang On gives the washer a completely new function: It is a conical hook attached under visible screws. Areas of application can be found everywhere: in the living room, on kitchen cabinets, shelves or shelf supports. Hang On consists of reused polyethylene, from which most bottle caps are made. These can easily be collected in a wide variety of colours and integrated into the new material cycle. It can be melted down many times without loss of quality in order to produce new products. Photo: Martin Patze

Clipps – universal connector by Linus Winkler Here is your Clipps. Your Clipps travels with you. Your Clipps tidies up your bag. Your Clipps connects your clothes. Your Clipps holds your phone, while you’re watching a movie. Your Clipps makes sure that your charger and your charging cable don’t lose sight of each other. Your Clipps holds your jacket. Your Clipps helps you whenever you need it. Photo: Martin Patze

mono switch – recyclable cord switch by Max Gruber The idea was to design a switch that works without additional metallic elements. Specially shaped metal plates provide electric conductivity in conventional switches. It requires a large effort to remove these metal plates from their plastic housings. This reduces recyclability significantly. The proposed design uses the metal of the cables to close the circuit. Consequently, no additional metal is needed for the switch to function. After removal of the cables this switch may be recycled without any problems. Of course, the switch is just a pin in the haystack. It does not solve the general problem of electronics' bad recyclability. Yet, mono switch makes a statement – it shows it is worth trying. Photo: Martin Patze

TRACK – protects what you love by Michael Altmann With the help of the GPS tracking device TRACK you will find your lost dog in no time. A new energy-saving wireless technology allows a battery life of over 1.5 years at a comparably low price for using the network. I set myself the task to design the housing for TRACK. It is made of recycled plastic and, unlike many other small electronic devices, it is neither screwed nor glued together but can be opened with a simple clip mechanism. Thus, when later disposing of the device, the electronic components and the plastic can be easily separated by the user and returned to their respective recycling cycles. Photo: Martin Patze

Läuft – she pees standing by Nele Meier Dirty train toilets, smelly Dixis, two-hour traffic jams and I just can't hold it anymore. Every woman knows the feeling of needing to go but not being able to. Urination devices do already exist but unfortunately these are often too big to fit in any pocket discretely. On the other hand, single use products made of plastic-coated paper create unnecessary waste. I took a closer look and realised that with a length of just 13cm of recycled plastic you can create a product that fits in any pocket, is safe during use (no drops on your feet) and can be used over and over again.

Sheydz – a congenial alternative to sunglasses and hats by Paulina Knoll Sheydz protects the eyes like a visor from the sun. You don’t sweat under it because it has temples like glasses instead of a band like a visor. One sees the unadulterated colours of his environment, because no tinted glass hangs in front of one’s eyes. You see the look in the eyes of the one who’s wearing a Sheydz. Sheydz can be worn with optical glasses. It is also very light and you hardly feel it, when wearing it. It can be folded to the dimensions of 4 x 65 x 145 mm and is therefore easy to transport. Photo: Martin Patze

CYCLOGON – a minimalistic repairable pedal by Simon Krautheim The bicycle is one of the most sustainable means of transport, but the way people interact with it and its design sometimes is lavish and material-intensive. My design of a bicycle pedal made of recycled plastic is a response to this: The modest octagonal platform is produced from high density polyethylene (HDPE) utilising the do-it-yourself (DIY) injection moulding machine by Dave Hakkens and screwed onto an axle using only two standard cartridge ball bearings and one nut. All parts can be replaced in minutes without special tools. Therefore, they can be recycled separately. The plans for the pedal will be open source – just like the DIY injection moulding machine – and will empower cyclists to repair and design their bicycles themselves. Photo: Martin Patze

Resus – recycled and recyclable glasses by Sophia Reißenweber Glasses combine a medical tool with a fashionable accessory that enhances the wearer's recognition value and underlines his or her uniqueness. In comparison to other plastic glasses, which are mostly made of cellulose acetate, Resus is made of recycled polypropylene which, at the same time, guarantees complete recyclability. The spectacles hinges are integrated without any use of metal making it easy to put leg and frame together without any tools. The unique marbled aesthetic of the recycled material, which results from manual injection moulding, conveys a sustainable fashion statement and turns an everyday product into an individual object of value. Photo: Martin Patze

Nicer Ricer – a measuring cup that can be used to wash rice by Yang Ni Although rice from the supermarket is flawless and packaged, rice grains are washed before preparation. This hygienic procedure from ancient times is still a spiritual act of purification. But there is no suitable utensil for washing and water consumption is correspondingly high. In order to give new life to the original tradition, the Nicer Ricer finds a contemporary approach: the classic measuring cup, as known from every rice cooker, also serves as a tool for washing rice. Photo: Martin Patze

Eurodapter – the sustainable adapter by Fritz Rahne The power socket is an everyday object that could not be more common. There are different variants worldwide for basically the same plug. This leads to overproduction of a large number of products. Anyone traveling, for example, from Germany to England must purchase an adapter for their electronic devices. Due to the combination of different materials, these are very difficult to recycle. The Eurodapter saves resources, is made of a monomaterial and, nowadays, is sufficient for practically every device that a traveller carries with him or her.

Kaum ein Material erzeugt eine so große Ambivalenz in uns wie Kunststoff. Einerseits wird es als billig, kurzlebig und umweltunfreundlich wahrgenommen – und auch so verwendet. Andererseits haben Kunststoffe und deren Verarbeitungsweisen unsere Konsumgüter und damit unseren Alltag entscheidend geprägt, denn Kunststoff ist ein extrem facettenreiches, formbares und zugleich erschwingliches Material. Gleichzeitig ist Kunststoff zukunftsweisend: Er wird potentiell aus alternativen Rohstoffen hergestellt; viele Kunststoffe sind prinzipiell sehr gut recyclebar und einige ersetzen zukünftig möglicherweise seltene Materialien, um funktionale, zum Beispiel elektronische, Komponenten herzustellen.

Wir widmeten uns den super normals, den einfachen, alltäglichen, fast unsichtbaren Gebrauchsgegenständen aus Kunststoff, untersuchten deren Notwendigkeit – auch aus kultureller Perspektive – und entwickelten eine nächste Generation. Ein Schlüsselaspekt lag dabei in der Recyclingfähigkeit, der Nutzung und Konzeption von Materialkreisläufen.

Wir durchliefen dazu im Semester den gesamten Entwurfs- und Entwicklungsprozess bis hin zur Serienfertigung im Spritzguss aus recycelten Kunststoffen. Dazu kamen die Precious Plastic Machines von Dave Hakkens zum Einsatz.

In Zusammenarbeit mit Conrad Dorer, Umweltbundesamt

recycle

Hardly any material creates as great of an ambivalence in us as plastic. On the one hand, it is perceived as cheap, short-lived and environmentally unfriendly – and it is used that way. On the other hand, plastics and their processing methods have decidedly shaped our consumer goods and thus our everyday life, because plastic is an extremely multifaceted, malleable and at the same time affordable material. At the same time, plastic is future-oriented: it is potentially produced from alternative raw materials, is in principle very easy to recycle and, with growing importance, is replacing rare materials in order to produce functional, for example, electronic components. In this project we devoted ourselves to the super normals, the simple, everyday, almost invisible commodities made of plastic, examined their necessity – also from a cultural perspective – and developed a next generation. A key aspect lies in the recyclability and use and design of material cycles. During the semester, we went through the entire design and development process right up to mass production in injection moulding from recycled plastics. For this we used the Precious Plastic Machines by Dave Hakkens.

In cooperation with Conrad Dorer, Federal Environment Agency

Participants and Projects:

Alexia von Salomon: scho – the truly recyclable toothbrush
Yang Ni: Nicer Ricer – a measuring cup that can be used to wash rice
Sophia Reißenweber: Resus – recycled and recyclable glasses
Hannah Kannenberg: HISCA – opens a bottle easily
Simon Hendrik Krautheim: CYCLOGON – a minimalistic repairable pedal
Maria Nele Meier: Läuft – she pees standing
Max Gruber: mono switch – recyclable cord switch
Jasmin Schauer: Hang On – a washer hook
Linus Winkler: Clipps – universal connector
Michael Altmann: TRACK – protects what you love
Paulina Knoll: Sheydz – a congenial alternative to sunglasses and hats
Fritz Rahne: Eurodapter – the more sustainable adapter
Irmela Krach: U.Shave – sustainable shaving for everyone