Carrie Booth | carrielbooth@gmail.comAlexander Michael | alexanderstrati@hotmail.comPam Menegakis | pammenegakis@hotmail.comAnna Lopes | annalopes0202@gmail.comFrancis Goodship | fgoodship@gmail.com

un-packageDART 392 PROJECT ONE

in a nutshell...CRADLE TO CRADLEINTRODUCTION - THIS BOOK IS NOT A TREE

“Cradle to Cradle” is a derivative of the expression “Cradle to grave”. This makes reference to the general life cycle of a person, a product or an item of sorts. William McDonnough and Michael Braungart, the two authors of the book give an interesting outlook on the way consumerism is affecting the natural and financial environments of today’s world. McDonnough, having spent part of his life in Japan and Jordan, was astonished at how simple design was in these countries compared to the western world. Living off of, more or less, essentials and producing for less waste than what needs to be produced. Braungart is a chemist who studied in Germany and the creator of the country’s Green Party, who later went on to do some work with Green Peace. Together, the two authors use their different assets and prior knowledge in different domains in order to come up with one very interesting point of view on the issue of waste management.

The introduction begins with a simple everyday scenario, where certain objects are picked off and analyzed in depth. One given example is the act of kicking off a pair of leather shoes. The leather used to make those shoes was once a biodegradable material allowing them to simply degrade into the earth once the shoes reached the end of their life cycle; imposing a no waste cycle. The process of tanning the leather has however gone from vegetable based dyes to chemical dyes, a cheaper and quicker option, which results in the product no longer being biodegradable but rather harmful to the environment during its process of degradation. Mother Nature has created a very carefully calculated ecosystem that does not allow for anything to be lost. Waste is not an option and everything has constant use in the cycle of the environment. This leads to how ecology and economy have been separated into two completely different domains that cannot thrive together as one. The industry and the environment, according to the authors are constantly butting heads, but in order for a functional living environment for all living things to be achieved, both industry and environment must work as one, such as it was intended to be.

in a nutshell...CRADLE TO CRADLECHAPTER 4 - WASTE EQUALS FOOD

Nature exists as a system where the waste produced is used by other organisms, which means that it isn’t really waste at all. The system consists of a decomposition of all organisms considered useless by the previous organism and becomes nutrients for other ones. Chapter four titled “Waste Equals Food” discusses how products should be produced in the same way and how product packaging for example does not need to last longer than the actual product it is carrying. The consumption of a coffee for instance, is a process that you may think only lasts 30 minutes or so. In fact, that beverage you purchased comes in a disposable cup which will take decades, or even centuries to break down and return to its molecular state. Once the product is consumed, there is no longer any use for the packaging itself and it serves no positive purpose in the environment’s agenda. This indirectly refers to a fundamental law of physics, the conservation of mass and of energy. This law explains that, in our universe, matter is never created or destroyed, it is only transformed. What this law implies is that there is no such thing as waste.

in a nutshell...CRADLE TO CRADLECHAPTER 4 - WASTE EQUALS FOOD (CONT.)

McDonnough and Braungart go on the discuss the use of biological and technical nutrients as well as to introduce the idea of a give and take system. As humans, we have created a culture of waste, which does not work the same way as nature. The authors challenge the readers to consider designs that imitate and adopt this way of working, as well as the attempt to completely eliminate not only waste, but the entire concept of waste:

“To eliminate the concept of waste means to design things -products, packaging, and systems-from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist” (p 104).

From biodegradable products, to containers that are made up of useful nutrients, to even the complete elimination of packaging, these are merely a few suggested solutions to a problem that has gone on for too long. The primary idea is thus to recognize that the notion of waste should altogether be eliminated from the design process in order to develop a closed-loop product life cycle that promotes a cleaner future. From cradle to cradle, rather than from cradle to grave.

KEYWORDS

Life cycleMaterialsDowncycledIndustryEnvironmentDesign

EnrichTechnical/Biological nutrientTechnical/Biological materialsPackagingMonstrous hybridCycle

bitesized bits

PRINCIPLES

- Eliminate concept of waste- Turning waste into food- Humans need to adopt nature’s cradle to cradle system- Form follows evolution and not just function- Recycle = downcycle- Closed-loop cycles

a slice of the cakeGOOD PRODUCT, BAD PACKAGING: TOP SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING MISTAKES, AMY WU

Amy Wu’s article allows us to reflect on how much our temporary food packaging poses a threat to our environment, while analyzing several, amongst many packaging problems. The two main problems in packaging designs, are the use of combining many materials into one, or the use of small containers in single serving packages. Chip bags for instance, although composed entirely of plastic, are unfortunately not recyclable. It is a common thought that because something is made of plastic, it is immediately suitable for the blue bin. The several layers of plastic and foil that make up the bag cannot be processed and separated when they arrive at the factory. This results in throwing away the numerous amounts of chip bags used by consumers. Such an example of waste is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to non-recyclable materials.

a slice of the cakeGOOD PRODUCT, BAD PACKAGING: TOP SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING MISTAKES, AMY WU (CONT.)

Single serving packaging deals with the same problems, as their material components are hard to separate at such a small scale. Therefore, single serving products such as yogurt cups and coffee pods are also thrown in our landfills. There has been a recent increase in the single-serve food movement which is having a negative impact on the recycling industry. From individual coffee pods to free-cut food containers, this consumerism-based movement is wreaking havoc in the dumps.

Authors of Cradle to Cradle, William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s term monstrous hybrids reflect greatly on this dilemma. The authors discuss the use of the combination of materials that create the many forms of packaging that we see on a daily basis. To consumers, these products pose the idea that they are recyclable upon their use, but their chemical composition of materials suggest the opposite. Wu presents possible solutions to the problems she brings up, such as newer, advanced machines, that are able to break up the material more efficiently in a way that can make more recyclable materials available. Another solution would be to create a customer awareness which would make consumers more sensible and conscious when buying pre-packed products, and even consider shopping at stores that are making an effort in environmental sustainability.

a slice of the cake

ADDICTED TO PLASTIC

Is it possible to live in a world without plastic?

Addicted to Plastic is a documentary created by Ian Connacher that discusses the prevalence of plastic in our modern lifestyle. He puts an emphasis on how a large amount of objects we use regularly contain some sort of plastic even if it may not look like plastic (eg. Polyester bed sheets) and how a lot of plastic products are designed to be used once and then discarded. However, plastic is a material that can take thousands of years to disintegrate, and therefore most plastic products created and discarded, still exist today. These products have accumulated in places such as landfills and most importantly, the ocean.

a slice of the cakeADDICTED TO PLASTIC(CONT.)

Although the ocean water may look pristine, it is littered with plastic that can often only be seen at a microscopic level. The plastic is broken down into tiny parts that animals mistake for food and ingest. In an interview with Dr. Jan van Franeker, a biologist that dissects the bodies of seabirds, it is revealed that the average amount of plastic that is found inside the bodies of deceased birds is 0.6g, about the size of a lunch box if found inside of a human. The chemicals from the plastic can enter the bloodstream of the birds and affect their ability to reproduce in negative ways.

Amongst the amount of plastic produced, North Americans only recycle 5%. The rest is sold to countries like China and India due to their lax labour and health laws. Other places, such as the town of Vasco Da Gama in India have banned the use of plastic bags. The plastic companies, however, have forced the government to define what is and isn’t a plastic bag. This has resulted in bags with handles made out of plastic material being classified as handbags and not plastic bags, which ultimately reverses the ban altogether.

a good eggELIMINATING THE USE OF FOOD PACKAGINGminds.com: “ZERO WASTE Grocery Store: This is what every market on Earth should look like”

Original Unverpackt is a Berlin based grocery store aiming to reduce food packaging by allowing customers to buy their food products through dispensers and reusable containers.

ALL THREE SOURCES

The three sources we chose to draw from all cover the topic we want to a tackle: food packaging. They all aim to draw attention to the highly toxic materials that makeup the products around us, and more specifically the food we consume everyday. They all connect and respond to one another on the topic of packaging. The urgency found in all three of our sources maintain an urgency in their message; the impact packaging is having on our environment and our health has come to a critical point, and we need to take action. All three address the ignorance we have towards our food and products. We throw them “away” but what is “away”? Where is it? Our out of sight, out of mind way of thinking is a major problem, and the goal of our sources as well as our manifesto is to bring awareness to what isn’t always right in front of our eyes. Away is not the end user. The end users become all of the people who have to deal with the waste we as a society create. Packaging items not only sit in dumps for decades, maybe centuries, but once they do in fact decompose, all sorts of toxins are released into the environment go back into the earth, water and atmosphere, infecting all of us. The three sources talk about the negative impacts on the environment, and what may ideally be done about it.

eat it all

MANIFESTO PROCESS

While expanding on the idea of eliminating the concept of waste as proposed in chapter four, we decided to focus on the subject of food packaging. Food is a necessity and something we purchase on a daily basis. The waste that comes along with buying the food we consume is often overlooked. We began with reflecting on what we purchase, and the vast amount packaging that is included on everyday food items we consume.

bread crumbs

THE MANIFESTATION OF OUR MANIFESTOhttp://hybrid.concordia.ca/pam_men/

taste it

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart. “Introduction, This Book Is Not a Tree.” Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. New York: North Point, 2002. N. pag. Print.

2. McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart. “Waste Equals Food.” Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. New York: North Point, 2002. N. pag. Print.

3. Addicted to Plastic. Bullfrog Films, 2008. Film.

4. Wu, Amy. “Good Product, Bad Package: Top Sustainable Packaging Mistakes.” TheGuardian 18 June 2014. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/sustain-ablebusiness/2014/jul/18/good-product-bad-package-plastic-recycle-mistakes>.

TYPEFACE INFORMATION

Headings in Lobster, designed by Pablo Impallari in 2010.Chosen to reflect on pop art style and vintage packaging labels.

Text in Quicksand, designed by Andrew Paglinawan in 2009.Chosen for its legibility and simplicity to complement our headings.