Wastematter

Wastematter: innovative material recycling brewery waste

«Wastematter» is a research for innovative material centered around the revaluation of drafts of beer breweries . Combined with an organic binder; the resulting material, with properties similar to chipboard intends to be used for the development of design furnitures and panels. The draft is the malted residue, which remains in the tank after the initial brewing of the beer and the racking of the must. Often seen as waste, it is actually rich in protein and fiber, which largely justifies talking about it as a «co-product» of the brewing process. This urban waste is produced per tonne each week by breweries in the city of Lausanne and around the world. «Wastematter» intends to rehabilitate this waste in a whole new field: design and furniture. Beyond its ecological aspect, compressed brewery waste combined with an organic binding component, offers a new feeling and texture, which can be transposed to many fields of application. It can become a local sustainable alternative to particle boards and chipboard.

Relevance: social, environmental and economic aspect of Wastematter

Social & Local Aspects: - Local valuation: by focusing the research on a specific place, the city of Lausanne, its process envisages a circular operation of recycling of waste, done in a collaborative manner and at a local level. It encompasses various local actors at all level of the process, from its implementation to the final use of the products designed Environmental Aspects: - Natural ressources valuation: no requirement of an addition of toxic or chemical elements to maintain the material’s cohesion. - Recycling the material: The resulting material is long-lasting, with a strength similar to chipboards. It is not intended for one-time uses but to last over time. Nevertheless, if it needs to be recycled it can be reduced into chips or powder and be used again to create new boards with the same properties. Economical Aspects: - By optimizing the flow management of local breweries in regards to their waste, it is the whole metabolism of the city of Lausanne that «Wastematter» improves. An economical valuation of food by-products reimplemented into a marketing channel.

Innovation: intersection between design and ecology

- «Wastematter» is a project at the intersection between design and ecology that questions our way of making by challenging the properties of natural resources. - «Wastematter» makes a local circular economy tangible, a «closed» production circle, reinventing the relationship between what we produce and consume. It puts design at the center of a questioning of sustainability and local impact. - «Wastematter» focuses in the value of the concept, not only with an outcome but within the complete creative process. - «Wastematter» carefully analyzes the social, economic and ecological impact that its approach generates over the long term.