From food waste to circular materials for design: experimenting with matter from unconventional origins

Humankind’s contemporary ways of production still show an exponential growth trend in generating different types of waste from a wide variety of sources. However, Material Designers are directly contributing to creating new examples of materials based on circular models. DIY-Materials are emerging through tinkering processes from unconventional sources, showing the commitment of designers to acquire a role in the transition to sustainability. The study aims to highlight which sources are available within the food supply chains, which processes are more significant to experiment with and disclose the potential of newly developed materials from food scraps. Through a rich overview of case studies (including textile and fashion), classified according to the origin of food wastes within the production processes that generate them along the Food Supply Chain, the study shows how designers may speculate on materials hypotheses generated from tinkering, potentially and concretely following an industrial scale-up for a new emerging circular economy