Kopi - Biological Fabric
Material innovation
Using
COFFEE WASTE
Idea
This project is set to fit within the circular economy. It began by looking into the various ideologies of the circular economy
Mainly that of reusing existing waste to create new materials, through the process of material innovation.
This helps to prevent the overutilization of existing virgin raw materials and resources.
Agricultural Waste
This project uses agricultural waste. Mainly waste from the coffee industry, since coffee is the second largest traded commodity in the world. With over 16 billion pounds of coffee beans being produced every year. Coffee processing also results in the production of coffee by-products such as – coffee husk, coffee pulp, spent coffee grounds and coffee wastewater. By converting this waste into resources through material innovation, we not only help reduce the resources used by the economy but also, reduce the waste being produced by the coffee industry.
Experiments with Coffee By-products
Experiments with Spent Coffee Grounds and Coffee Husk
Experiments with Cascara
MATERIAL INNOVATION USING CASCARA - GRowing the BIOLOGICAL fabric
To help understand this better, let’s compare this microbial brew to a beehive, but rather than a thousand bees working together to build a beehive, here we have millions of microscopic bacteria working together to spin and bind cellulose fibres. They use the sugar and coffee pulp extract present in the mixture as food to help grow and multiply the bacteria. These fibres grow to the size and shape of their container.
Once they grow to the shape of the container, they start growing layers one on top of the other, making the sheet thick. The longer you brew, the thicker the material gets. The end result is sheets of wet mats that can be moulded, dyed and textured when dried. Once dry, the texture of the material ranges from almost leather-like to papyrus, depending on the thickness of the harvest. While the fabric is very strong. It isn’t naturally waterproof, but this can be solved by applying certain beeswax and oils.
Exploration and Experimentations with the Biological fabric
Experiments using various thickness, textures, dyes ( Fabric dye, Food dye, Vegetable dye) and also embedding multiple materials to the biological fabric.
MATERIAL Journal
PROPERTIES OF THE MATERIAL
• Can be Moldable • Strong <> Thickness
• Flexible • Can be Scented
• Can be Dyed • Translucent & opaque depending on thickness of the material
• Can be Textured • Biodegradable
• Can be used as a Fertilizer • Can absorb and disperse water.
STRENGTH TEST OF THE MATERIAL
Aim
The aim of the test was to identify the strength of the material in terms of how much weight it can hold.
outcome of the Test
A piece of Coffee Leather that is about 0.60 mm thick, which weighs around 67 grams can hold over 12 kgs.
Kopi Bag - Bags designed using the biological Fabric
WHAT IS A KOPI BAG?
Kopi Bag is a bag that is made using Coffee leather. It is used as a sustainable alternative to plastic bags. It helps reduce the pollution that is caused by non-biodegradable plastic bags, as kopi bags are biodegradable. An added bonus is that kopi bags are made using coffee by-products. This help reduces the waste produced by the coffee industry.
DESIGN PROCESS
IDEA
Replace the use of plastic bags with kopi bags made using kopi fabric.
PROBLEM
There is an average of 300 million tonnes of plastic produced annually, of which 50% are single-use plastic.
91 % of the plastic produced isn’t recycled.
26.8 million tonnes of plastic end up in landfills.
An average plastic bag is used for a minimum of 12- 15 minutes before being disposed of.
An average plastic bag takes 10 - 20 years to decompose. Plastic bags under 50 microns are the number one cause of microplastics.
REDESIGNING A PLASTIC BAG
While redesigning a plastic bag, you look at four things Strength, Storage, Structure and Design.
Structure and Design - There isn’t any problem with regular plastic bags in terms of their structure and design, as it serves their purpose and helps carry the baggage.
Strength - An average plastic bag can hold 7kgs. So I had to make sure the material and bag could hold a minimum of 7 kgs or more. Currently, the kopi fabric can hold 12 kgs +
Storage - Plastic bags are stored extremely flat in stores as this helps them store more bags. So while designing a bag, this had to be taken into consideration.
DESIGN INSPIRATION - PLEATING AND BELLOWS
The material tends to be stronger when pleated as they have multiple pressure points. Bellows, when stored, are flat but expand when used.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT HANDLE
To redesign a bag, I started by looking at the handle. The handles of the bag are correlated to the weight the bag is meant to carry. So for the bag, I needed to find the strongest handle by running experiments.
Type A - Is mainly used to carry lightweight objects like cloth and books. Plastic bags with this handle generally tend to be thin.
Type B - Is the strongest and is used in most plastic bags.
Type C - It is mainly used for cloth bags.
MAQUETTES
DETAILED VIEW
KOPI BAG DESIGN
Kopi bags are designed such that the bag can be flattened for easy storage.
Kopi Bags also have pleats that allow it to expand, in order to store more.
HOW ARE KOPI BAGS BETTER THAN CLOTH AND PLASTIC BAGS?
Kopi bags
They are compostable
They use waste materials
Creates zero waste and leaves no carbon footprint
Cloth Bags.
They are biodegradable
They use up virgin raw materials
Add to the pollution caused by fast fashion
Plastic bags
They are non biodegradable
They take 10-20 years to breakdown to microplastics.
They use up virgin raw materials
Create a lot of pollution