900 trillion tonnes of food is wasted yearly, and so I challenged myself to turn this abundance of “waste” into utility. In this project, the wasted food was reincarnated twice. Firstly, it was given a second life as a bioplastic or a bioleather after a thorough experimentation with recipes. Next, the results were made into a myriad of physical and digital prototypes. Safe to say that one man’s food waste is another man’s treasure.  

In this project, I was experimenting mostly with rotten red cabbage, rotten beetroot, as well as orange peels. Furthermore, I was experimenting with different ratios of sodium alginate and agar agar, along with glycerin and water. In some bioplastics, I decided to experiment with wool fiber as well.

The orange peels were collected from the supermarket around the corner, they were then cut into small pieces. Later, they were sent to the oven to be baked for approximately 6 to 7 hours to get rid of any moisture. 

After ensuring that the peels were completely dried out, I went ahead and broke them down into smaller pieces using the pestle and mortar. They were then put in a blender to break them up into even smaller pieces. Next, I used to pestle and mortar again to change the chunks into powder. A sieve was used in the process. 

Here you can see a sample of the bioplastics obtained as a result of this experimentation. Some of the mixtures were poured over textured surfaces in order to give the bioplastics different looks and feels.

Next, I wanted to experiment further, and so I decided to laser cut different shapes and patterns on the bioplastics. I also used the laser cutter to carve out the model of a bag prototype. 

For the bioplastic made from rotten red cabbage, I decided to laser cut the texture of a red cabbage on the bioplastic. Given how intricate the texture is, the process took a total of 6 hours to be completed.

Here is a snippet of laser cutting a pattern on the bioplastic made of orange peels.

Here is an experimentation using the bioplastic made out of rotten beetroot. The bioplastic was made into a small bag prototype. The model was made by Clara Davis.

Using the laser cutter, I cut out different sized circles and assimilated them together into earrings. This bioplastic was made out of red cabbage topped with dried orange peels to give it an interesting texture.

This is also further experimentation with the laser cutter on the bio-leather made out of orange peels and wool fiber. I made moon-shaped earrings as well as a prototype of a card holder which is yet to be assimilated.

I wanted to take the project a step further, so I decided to scan the bioplastics and manipulate them digitally to create trippy backgrounds for Zoom.

I also made an Instagram filter using the digitally manipulated bioplastic scans.

Finally, here you can see snippets of the final exhibition at IE University. :)

This project was done by myself, Orchida Ahmed for Materials and Applications II at IE, led by Lucas Muñoz, where I received the academic award.