Hydro R100

Hydro brings “R100” home for Dutch Design Week

Each of the five design objects is brought to life within a self-imposed limit of a 100-km production radius in the Benelux region. From locally sourced aluminium scrap, harvested from demolished greenhouses and decommissioned lightpoles, to finished design objects.

By making products entirely from post-consumer aluminium, the emissions from the production of the material are drastically reduced, which has allowed Hydro to shift its attention to transportation emissions in the “R100” project.

For "R100" Art Director Lars Beller Fjetland, the idea for “R100” began to form last year: “Could it be possible to solve all operations from scrap collection, casting, extruding, machining and anodizing within a 100 km radius, creating five bold new designs from 100 percent post-consumer-based aluminium?”

The main hypothesis was that the 100-km radius would result in a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions related to transportation while also potentially reducing lead times and increasing efficiency.

The hypothesis held true. Comparing transportation emissions with last year’s project, the “R100” project shows a staggering 90% reduction in carbon emissions from transportation.