ZERO WASTE – experimental packaging from algae-based material

DESIGN: Austeja Platukyte

Lithuania

make me! 2021

While working on this project I have followed a zero-waste philosophy and sought to shed light on an increasingly prevalent problem of environmental pollution.

This project is a result of an experimental practice that was aimed at finding a substitute for synthetic plastic using only natural resources which would, later on, form a new cycle of nature. I have tested a number of natural materials as well as their mixtures before I came up with the most suitable solution – biodegradable algae-based material.

This new material perfectly holds its shape, is waterproof and protects the product against possible damage. Made of only two natural ingredients, this material is wholly organic and compostable. After the product is consumed, its packaging can simply be composted or used as a fertilizer. Even if this packaging has been discarded as waste, due to natural processes and micro-organisms it will again become a part of nature, forming new layers of chalk and will cause no harm to the environment or other forms of life all.

My experiments with materials also figure as an inseparable part of the final solution. This way I want to show the processes that lay behind the final product.

ZERO WASTE – experimental packaging from algae-based material, design: Austeja Platukyte / from designer’s archive

Austeja Platukyte

Creative researcher working in between the disciplines of material design and science, technology and craft. Her progressive solutions are systematically linked to the theme of organic matters and a topic of materials transformation into other forms, introducing new social, cultural, economic and psychological context into her creative process. In each of her projects, she seeks to highlight the relevance of the originative proces and gain real experience in the development of new materials. She combines experimental research with the imagination and interpretation of existing knowledge. She explores the fundamental ecological problems, emphasizing subjective emotional involvement and questioning the values of an anthropocentric society. Departing from the aesthetic, formal and functional definitions she seeks to discover alternative design methods that will resist the logic of universality, functionality and overall beauty dictated by large-scale industry.

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