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.