Ecotech- Haley C, Perry A, Matt C

Quote #1

The Intelligence of Ecological Design

“…we ought to pay full and close attention to the ecological conditions and prerequisites that sustain all life. That we seldom know how human actions affect ecosystems or the biosphere gives us every reason to act with informed precaution.”

Quote #2

Hippocratic oath for Designers

“The first rule of making any place is that it should not impair some other place. “

Quote #3

https://www.ecoliteracy.org/article/neither-paper-nor-plastic-eating-outside-lunch-box

“In the U.S., containers and packaging materials constitute 32 percent of the municipal solid waste stream, over 800 pounds per person annually.”

Treehugger post:

https://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/company-turns-seaweed-edible-biodegradable-packaging.html

1.Project Title, creator/artists, date, location

“This Indonesian company turns seaweed into edible & biodegradable packaging”

Company Name: Evoware

Co-founders: David Christian, Edwin Aldrin, Noryawati Mulyono, Benyamin Gunawan, and Surianto

Writer: Derek Markham, December 2017

2. Brief Description

This company (Evoware) is attempting to solve our massive plastic pollution problem by using seaweed-based packaging that is 100% biodegradable and edible as well.

3. Visuals

 4. What are the key questions/issues the project is addressing? (i.e. concept)

This project/company is addressing the issue of plastic packaging. According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, some 33% of all plastic is “used just once and thrown away,” which contributes to an immense global problem.  “One of the only things that seems to hold promise in reducing plastic pollution is to move toward greener materials that are made from renewable resources and can break down quickly without adding more of a toxic load to our waterways.”

5. Why are these important questions/issues?

With our increasing levels of waste affecting our ecosystem it is now making its way back into our lives through the food we eat.  “Products, such as beverage bottles, packaging, drinking straws, and bags, out of a material that basically never goes away, but instead just breaks down into smaller and smaller particles that find their way into almost everything.”

“Once it gets into the marine eco-system, when an organism ingests the microplastics – because they’re pretty much the same size as a sand grain and there are organisms that eat sand grains to get their nutrients. So once it gets taken up into their body system it’s possible that the contaminants from the plastics actually get absorbed into the tissue. And then if another larger organism – say a fish – eats a worm that ate the plastics, do those contaminants that are in a worm get transferred to the tissue of the fish.” —https://www.sbs.com.au/news/concerns-over-microplastics-in-the-food-chain

6. How does the project address the questions/issues? In their words, what does the project add to human culture? How does it contribute to human meaning? community? ecosystems?

“By turning to locally-grown seaweed as a feedstock for biodegradable packaging, Evoware aims to boost the livelihoods of seaweed farmers while also working to reduce plastic waste in general, and to reduce ocean pollution in particular.”

7. Which ecological issues does the project raise/solve?

The issue that this project is trying to solve is the massive plastic pollution problem across the world. By creating this 100% biodegradable and edible packaging all future waste that utilizes this technology will be eliminated.

8. Does the project respond superficially (it just raises the issue for us to think about) vs deeply (it pushes us to engage with the issue and/or take action).

The plastic that this project discusses has already been successfully created and demonstrated by the company, but they are currently working on bringing the product to a bigger market to push the issue further.

9. What design decisions were used to support the project intention? Does the design fit the concept?

The design of the product is the most important part of this intention. The packaging created must be able to contain food without affecting the taste and also be 100% biodegradable, which has been done successfully.

10. What kind of technology does the project use? Does the technology support the intent or does it create tension with the intent?

The type of technology this project uses is the biodegradable seaweed used for packaging items and then being able to eat the package, the technology does support the intent due to the fact of the biodegradable packaging which is the technology and the ability for no issues to come with this intent.