Plastic EMERGENCY Architecture

Pl a s t i c < EME RG E NCY > A rchite cture

IAAC, 2019

Research thesis developed by Gabriele Jureviciute. Thesis supervisor - Mathilde Marengo

C REA T I NG L O W - CO S T , AC C ES S I B LE AR C HI T EC T UR E F R O M W A S T E MA T ERI AL, I MPR O VI NG LI VAB I LI T Y I N AR EAS A F F E C T E D B Y MI S MANAGED PLAS T I C WAS T E.

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Pl a s t i c < EME RG E NCY > A rchite cture C REA T I NG L O W - CO S T , AC C ES S I B LE AR C HI T EC T UR E F R O M W A S T E MA T ERI AL, I MPR O VI NG LI VAB I LI T Y I N AR EAS A F F E C T E D B Y MI S MANAGED PLAS T I C WAS T E.

Research thesis developed by Gabriele Jureviciute Thesis supervisor - Mathilde Marengo

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia Master in Advanced Architecture

from the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalunya

Barcelona September, 2019

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Thesis presented to obtain the qualification of Master Degree

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ACKNOLEDGMENTS First of all I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor Mathilde Marengo, who has supported me throughout all the year and whose expertise has enriched my grasp on the topic of my studies and research. I sincerely thank her for all her patience and time dedicated during the development of the research.

I would also like to thank Metabolic Cities Studio and Johan Jasser Salas Castro, whose professional and physiological support have encouraged me during the most challenging times. This work would not have reached this level without his insights.

Next, I would like to extend my gratitude to the experts from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and the Fab Lab Barcelona, who have shared their knowledge and support during the thesis development stage. I would especially like to thank for the fabricational support to Mikel Llobera Guelbenzu and Sujal Kodamadanchirayil Suresh as well as for the computational support to Nikoleta Mougkasi and Daniil Kosheliuk.

I would also like to thank Autodesk Technology Center Boston for an opportunity to explore the possibilities of my thesis with their machinery during the summer. Special thank to Zack Tenaglia and Joshua Aigen for patience and support during that time.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends for their

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support and encouragement through the time spent in Barcelona.

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C ont ent

For e ward 4 Intr od u ctio n 10 Urban context........................................................................... 10 Framework................................................................................. 14

P lastics - glo bal s ituatio n

16

History of plastics....................................................................17 Plastics and its types............................................................ 18 Current economy model of plastics................................22 Mismanaged Plastic Waste............................................... 24 Influence of Policy.................................................................. 26

Fr om linea r mo dels to circular c y c l e s

30

Circular Economy model....................................................... 31 Plastic Recycling..................................................................... 32 Aplications in fashion industry......................................... 36 Potential in architecture..................................................... 38

P lastic < EMERGENC Y > Architec tu r e

44

Material research................................................................... 46 Designing with recycled plastics......................................52 Application in Case study: Indonesia.............................. 72

Imp act beyo nd des ign: Glo ba l i m p l i c a ti on s

78

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture: A driver of Circular Economy............................................. 80

Social integration................................................................... 84

Conclus io ns 8 6 Su gges tio ns fo r future develo pm e n t

92

Bib liography 9 4

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Environmental benefits........................................................ 81

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FOREWARD

“Black footed albatross chick with plastics “ Photo credit: Dan Clark/USFWS

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KEY WORDS Circular Economy, Recycled Plastics, Plastic Architecture, Community Involvement

ABSTRACT â&#x20AC;&#x153;Plastic <EMERGENCY> Architectureâ&#x20AC;? explores an architecture of circular cycles related to recycled plastics. With open source technologies (such as the Precious Plastic machines) and digital fabrication tools, the project encourages recycling, giving these recycled plastics new value by generating new construction materials, for diverse applications. The broader impact of the project is targeted at citizens, both in the material and design processes, customizing design outputs. This creates a platform of awareness as well as sharing knowledge hence safeguarding the environment through plastic aggregation, otherwise risking deterioration to microplastics, this finally

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generating social and environmental capital, within a circular economic model.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

SCIENTIFIC INTEREST Since 1950 the total world population increased 3.75 times making a total of 7.5 billion people today. Predictions for the next 50 years adds 3 billions more, meaning that in 2050 there will be 10 billion people living in the world (Roser and Ortiz-Ospina, 2018). With the population growth, faster speed of living and invention of cheap, lightweight and resistant material for almost everything - plastic - the world began to face the problem of extreme amount of waste and enormous plastic pollution, 381 million tonnes in 2015 (Ritchie and Roser, 2018). Due to the massive consumptionism nowadays, the total number of plastic waste is increasing every second and even though there are new regulations and goals stated by different institutions throughout the world (China Waste Ban, European Single Plastic Ban, etc.), there are no plans to stop its production. Plastic pollution has become to be the most harmful to the environment, due to 450 years long process of decomposing to microscale, which in the end makes plastic only non visible to human eye, but does not eliminate it from the atmosphere.

Although there are a growing number of projects that treat the recycling of plastics, many of these are framed in the fashion and design fields, simply delaying the issue of these becoming waste in the short term (average lifespan of garments - 3.3 years), not dealing with longer term implications.

Is there a way to stop plastic from becoming microplastic while it is not too late? What kind of new applications for plastic recycling could be created in order to not only pause the waste cycle, but also to create new cycle to which fully prevents plastic from becoming microplastic?

AIM The project aims to directly involve the local community in all the processes of the project, by training and sharing information and experience open source with local communities affected by mismanaged plastic waste.

The process includes: collection of plastic waste, understanding different types of plastics and their properties in relation to recycling, use of open source machines to recycle plastics, production of recycled plastic, concept design of architectural form, and easy to build construction processes.

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The broader impacts of the project serve the environment, both on a local scale, and on a global scale, with the aim of not only generating social capital through the implementation of local innovation and knowledge protocols, but also sharing these on a global scale, consolidating a network of people, and furthermore associating new value to a material that seemingly has lost its value as it no longer served its initial design purpose. This allows to consequently generate environmental value, as well as the potential of associating economic value to waste materials.

HYPOTHESIS Plastic Emergency Architecture is a research focused on the use of recycled plastics for small scale, easy to build architectural elements. While bringing back the economic value to the plastic waste, research explores the advantages of materiality, recycling process and possible design scenarios, finally creating awareness, social and ecological capita as well as improving

Roser, M. and Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2018). World Population Growth. [online] Our World in Data. [Accessed 7 Nov. 2018].

Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2018). Plastic Pollution. [online] Our World in Data. [Accessed 7 Nov. 2018].

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liveability in areas affected by mismanaged plastic waste.

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OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTED RESULTS By mapping plastic pollution, analysing the existing situation and gathering the relative data as well as using computational design tools and prototyping, the research collects data relevant to the topic, explores and documents possibilities of plastic recycling at home environment, analyses the materiality and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possibilities and finally generates an application for the use of recycled plastics in architecture.

METHODOLOGY The research starts with an overview of the current global situation. It continues by introducing plastics as the key element and provides theoretical knowledge of the history and description of plastic. Furthermore, the research explores current linear model of economy. It proposes an overview of legislative regulations and nowadays challenges.

Second chapter concentrates on a transition from a linear model of economy to a circular system. It introduces a theoretical definition of recycling and existing platforms and initiatives for upcycling the material.

It also describes the state of the art projects and turns the attention to an architectural applications.

The third part of the research explores plastic as a material by prototyping and testing in real life. It gathers the information of experimentation and results obtained by developing an applied research and concludes with presenting a design possibilities for an application in architecture introducing Indonesia as a case study.

Pre last chapter elaborates on the global implications for the impact beyond design, presenting economic, environmental and social aspects whining a topic on Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture.

Finally, the conclusions with the general overview and accomplishments are presented as the closing part of the research.

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INTRODU C TION

“Landfill Ballerina” Photo credit: Arash Yaghmaian

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URBAN CONTEXT Today the World counts more than 7.5 billion people living on the planet out of which over half live in urban areas. The projections for the future of urban areas adds 2.5 billion people more making it to 66% of all the population by 2050. (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015) Life in cities, disattached from the natural resources requires constant supply of goods such as food, medicine, personal items. In the last decades, the consumption rates have grown exponentially, creating a wide rage of problems and affecting the Earth. It contributes to global warming by CO2 emission from manufacturing and transportation as well as creates an enormous problem of waste and waste management. Current calculations indicates that every year people produce 2.12 billion tons of waste globally.

Almost all (99%) of all the new items bought are being trashed within a period of 6 months. While organic, paper and metal waste takes space for a long time, but has a slight chance earlier or later to come back where it came from, the problem of plastic, a synthetic human made material, and plastic waste is much bigger.

Plastic waste is now so ubiquitous in the environment that it has been suggested as a geological indicator of the proposed Anthropocene era.

The World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey & Company. (2016) The New Plastics Economy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rethinking the future of plastics. [Accessed 2 Oct. 2018].

Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. and Law, K. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), p.e1700782.

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(Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017)

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Within only 65 years period, the global production of plastic increased from 2 tons to 380 tons. While during 65 years the total amount of produced resins and fibers was 8.3 billion tons, half of it was produced only in the last 13 years (Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017). Estimations are showing, that if the existing scheme of production, consumption and waste treatment continues, there will be 12000 tons of plastic wasted by 2050 either in landfills or natural environment. It is estimated that plastic could degrade in 450 years, which means to become invisible to see and manage, polluting water, food and more. This means that even if the plastic production gets reduced or stopped, the amount of already disposed plastic will stay on the planet for many generations.

Each year generates an additional 2.12 billion tons of waste globally.

Plastic accounts for 12% of it, making a total of 300 million tons of plastic waste annually. While the current rate of recycling plastic waste is 19%, 10% ends up in the ocean (Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017) polluting the waters, affecting the lives of sea animals, coral reefs and in a wider loop coming back to people within the food cycle.

Plastic debris has been found in all major ocean basins, with an estimated 4 to 12 million metric tons of plastic waste generated on land entering the marine environment in 2010 alone. Contamination of freshwater systems and terrestrial habitats is also increasingly reported, as is environmental contamination with synthetic fibers.

(Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017) 61% of the ocean plastic has already became microplastic (less than 1mm size) which is too difficult to control and will keep in the ecosystem forever.

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Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. and Law, K. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), p.e1700782.

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FRAMEWORK The research is framed within the same aspects as The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The agenda, published in 2015, defines a collection of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets and is set by the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives during a meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York. It targets the current global issues in order to improve the situation within 15 years time (United Nations, 2015). The goals such as No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Clean Water and Sanitation, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water and Partnership for the Goals (fig.01) are all taken into consideration within the research on “Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture”.

Besides goals and targets, the agenda defines the shared principles and commitments for the following 15 years. The 28th commitment in particular sets the boundaries for the framework of this research:

“We commit to making fundamental changes in the way that our societies produce and consume goods and services. Governments, international organizations, < . . . > and individuals must contribute to changing unsustainable consumption and production patterns, including through mobilization, from all sources, of financial and technical assistance to strengthen developing countries’ scientific, technological and innovative capacities to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.

We encourage the implementation of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns. All countries take action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries.”

(United Nations, 2015)

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p. 15 Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015) Colors identifies the ones which are aligned with the research Plastic <Emergency> Architecture:

United Nations (2015). Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. [online] New York. [Accessed 15 Sep. 2019].

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Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote wellJbeing for all at all ages Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

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PLAS TIC S

A Chinese laborer sorts plastic bottles for recycling in Dong Xiao Kou village on the outskirts of Beijing Photo credit: Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images

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HISTORY OF PLASTIC In the year 1907, an american scientist Leo Baekeland invented the world’s first synthetic plastic - Bakelite. It was created with a positive intention to replace a natural material Shellac1, used to insulate electric cables.

Intention was to find a material, which would help to speed the process of production as well as to avoid a labor-intensive extraction work. Shortly after, the new invention began to show great properties not only as an electrical insulation, but also for chemical and heat resistance. It started to replace many household and industrial items and as the Bakelite Corporation logo stated, it became “The Material of a Thousand Uses”.

(American Chemical Society, 1993) Although the first plastic appeared in the beginning of the 20th century, the biggest boom for its production and use happened after the World War II. Since then, plastic began to be the main material of a century and within a period of 65 years, the World got filled with 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic (half of this was produced in the last 13 years), out of which 70% have already become waste. (Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017)

“If you spread all of this plastic equally, ankle-deep, it would cover an area the size of Argentina.”

Roland Oeyer (an industrial ecology professor and the study’s lead author), 2017

According to the data from 2015, more than 300 million tons of plastic waste is added to the calculation annually (The World Economic Forum, 2016).

“Shellac was made from a resin secreted by the East Asian lac bug; it was harvested by the labor-intensive process of scraping the hardened deposits from the trees these insects inhabited.” (American Chemical Society, 1993)

- American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks. (1993) Bakelite: The World’s First Synthetic Plastic. [online] [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

- Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. and Law, K. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), p.e1700782.

- The World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey & Company. (2016) The New Plastics Economy — Rethinking the future

of plastics. [online] [Accessed 2 Oct. 2018].

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PLASTIC AND ITS TYPES Plastic (from greek word “plastikos” which means - moldable) by definition is a material which can change its shape. There are thousands of plastics types. It can be synthetic or organic. Some of them are also called polymers (large molecules composed of many repeated subunits).

Plastics and their types are mainly categorized into two groups: thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastics are the ones which are in some kind of shape and can be melted and formed back to the same or another form without loosing or only slightly losing its properties.

Thermosets, on the other hand, are the ones which are produced in a particular shape and cannot be remelted. For example: vulcanized synthetic rubber, silicone, and many others. (American Chemistry Council, 2012) Most of the plastics nowadays are labeled with a number from 1 to 7, which represents their type and is crucial for recycling process. The first six types are the most commonly used plastics, and constitutes a total of 92% of the plastics ever made: polyethylene (type 2 - HDPE and type 4 - LDPE) - 36%, polypropylene (type 5 PP) - 21%, polyvinyl chloride (type 3 - PVC) - 12%, polyethylene terephthalate (type 1 - PET) - <10% and polystyrene (type 6 - PS) - <10%. (Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017). Type 7 is called “other” and stands for all remaining almost thousand types of plastics. If an additional information specifying the particular type is not written next to the number 7, plastic items are almost impossible to recycle without harming the environment.

“Plastic EMERGENCY Architecture” is focused on four types of plastics: • #1 PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) • #2 HDPE (High-density Polyethylene) • #5 PP (Polypropylene) • #7 PLA (Polylactic acid) The particular choice was made due to nontoxicity of these thermo-plastics.

Moreover, PE, PP and PET are predominant plastic types for single use items, such as packaging (approximately 42% of all the world’s non fiber plastics) (Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017), which are the biggest threat to

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the environment due to the extremely short period of usage. Polylactic acid,

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one of the acid, one of the most commonly used biomaterials, was added

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; American Chemistry Council. (2012). How Many Kinds of Plastics are There?. [online] [Accessed 18 Aug. 2019]. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. and Law, K. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), p.e1700782.

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to the list for the comparison between synthetic and organic plastics.

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#1 PET

POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE Polyethylene Terephthalate, labeled with a number 1 (abbreviations: PET, PETE, PETP, PET-P) is the fourth most commonly produced type of plastic, due to its dimensional stability and mechanical properties. It is a strong, stiff, resistant to chemicals, wear, high energy radiation, weather, moisture, and abrasion material which could also be made fully transparent (Ji, 2013). PET is commonly found as an industrial material or in everyday life as packaging for food and beverages, especially water bottles. The down aspect of PET used in food packaging is the risk of leaching carcinogens and the growth of bacteria while reusing.

Moreover, Polyethylene Terephthalate is widely used for fabrics and is known by the name “Polyester”. Being one of the most commonly used synthetic fabrics, polyester’s main applications are in the fashion industry, household textiles as well as the yield for producing fishing nets.

HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), labeled with a number 2, is the most common type of plastics and together with low-density polyethylene accounts for 36% of all the plastics ever produced) (Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017). High-Density Polyethylene is hard plastic, which depending on its thickness can by very flexible. Its main properties are high resistance to chemicals, wear and weather conditions, such as moisture or under exposure to sunlight. Moreover, it is the safest out of the most commonly used plastics. The primary color of HDPE is opaque white, but it is usually colored according to the branding or preferences.

HDPE can be seen as most of the plastic caps for beverage bottles, milk and juice bottles and other packaging, food storage, detergent and soap bottles, shampoo and conditioner containers. It’s also used to produce toys, boxes, waste bins, park benches, picnic tables, plastic lumber and agricultural pipes.

#2 H DP E

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#5 PP

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POLYPROPYLENE Polypropylene (PP) is a second most manufactured plastic (21% of all the plastics) (Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017).

While itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s properties are strongly similar to polyethylene (chemical , weather, moisture, grease resistance), PP is slightly tougher, but still flexible. Usually used as non colored translucent material, but could be painted in all different colors.

The applications of polypropylene waries from food storage, such as dip bottles, ice cream tubes, straws, tupperware storage containers and other lunch boxes, microwave dishes, potato chip bags, kettles to medicine and industrial use, for example prescription bottles or blue packing tape.

POLYLACTIC ACID

#7 P LA

Polylactic Acid (PLA) is the second most common bioplastic which derives from natural resin such as corn starch, sugarcane or cassava starch, roots and chips. PLA is biodegradable and bioactive. With its properties, PLA is highly similar to HDPE, although itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s electrical resistance is much lower compared to synthetic plastics.

- Ji, L. (2013). Study on Preparation Process and Properties of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). Applied Mechanics and Materials, 312, pp. 406-410.

- Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. and Law, K. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), p. e1700782.

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PLA is mostly used as a filament for 3D printers as well as slowly changing synthetic plastic items, for example storage containers, coffee cup lids or cutlery in the food industry.

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CURRENT ECONOMY MODEL OF PLASTICS Nowadays, the most common system of economy of plastics serves to a linear model of production and consumption. This model consists of several steps taken one after another: manufacturing from raw materials, selling, using and finally discarding as waste.

According to the calculations done in 2015, 59.04% of all the plastic ever created was already in landfills or discarded and 9.64% incinerated. Only 1.2% of all global plastic is recycled and still in use. (Geyer, Jambeck and Law, 2017) There are several reasons why the linear process is taking a strong role in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world. First of all, the price of a virgin polymer, which is dictated by the oil industry, is lower than the recycled polymer. Secondly, the cost and accessibility of recycling is higher and more difficult than simply disposing once used plastics as waste. (Hopewell, Dvorak and Kosior, 2009) Fortunately, due to its lack of flexibility and cradle to grave process, the linear economy is being challenged by various risks. Being a material from non-renewable resources, in many countries it faces the risk of supply and price. Moreover, advances in technology and acceptance of alternative business models are allowing the move towards material circularity and further from the linear economy. Finally, regulatory trends are setting the strongest argument. There is a numerous amount of landfills, which have their own taxes for waste disposal. In some countries they are expensive because of the land scarcity, others due to difficult geology and landscapes.

20 European countries have taxes for landfills, which during two years period (2009/2010) collectively gathered â&#x201A;Ź2.1 billion. (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015).

- Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. and Law, K. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), p.e1700782.

- Hopewell, J., Dvorak, R. and Kosior, E. (2009). Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), pp. 2115-2126. p. 22

- Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2015). Towards a Circular Economy: Business rationale for an accelerated transition. Pp.2-5. [online] [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

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MISSMANAGED PLASTIC WASTE The biggest threat to the environment is plastic waste entering the ocean and other waters, killing the sea life and affecting our food chain. The estimation of plastics already existing in the oceans varies from 10,000 to 100,000 tons of plastics. The actual number remains unknown due to the fact that most types of plastic sinks, while others remain on the surface of the water. Nonetheless, while 20% of the ocean plastics are caused by ships, 80% comes from land sources due to improperly managed waste streams.

The term â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mismanaged plastic wasteâ&#x20AC;? represents the waste, which has been inadequately disposed (thrown away in dumps or open and uncontrolled landfills) or littered (accounts for around 2% for all the countries). This type of

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plastic waste is the most likely to enter into the oceans by the wind, tides or rivers, especially in the places within 50 kilometers distance from the coastlines. This type of waste amounted to 31.9 mln. tons in 2010 and by estimation 3% (8 mln.) of which have already entered the oceans during one year. (Jambeck et al. 2015) The map below shows the share of mismanaged plastic waste (tones per country) in 2010 and gyres around the world. The biggest contributor to ocean pollution with mismanaged waste is East Asia. Due to various reasons, such as import of western trash, China accounts for 28% of the global total, Indonesia - 10%, Philippines and Vietnam - 6% each and Thailand 3.2%. (Ritchie and Roser, 2019) Although the information is gathered in 2010, the projection for the following

Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2019). Plastic Pollution. Our World in Data. [online] [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

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15 years did not include heavy changes.

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INFLUENCE OF POLICY An additional element which keeps threatening cradle to grave process of waste is the influence of policy. While the consumerist society keeps using enormous amounts of goods and keeps producing waste, the landfills are getting full while the countries start lacking space for new areas to dispose their waste. Since plastic is one of the few materials which can not biodegrade or fastly decompose to small scale, the disposal of it has become a global problem, which started triggering counties all around the world to implement policies and plastic bans.

CHINA WASTE BAN Since plastic waste became a product within the global economy, countries, which could not find an empty land to dispose their waste (mainly high income countries), started selling it to lower income countries. For many years, the biggest importer of plastic waste was China.

Until 2018 72,4% of the total world’s plastic waste was imported by China and Hong Kong (which used to act as an entry point with the majority of that waste stream ending up in China) (Ritchie and Roser, 2019).

Although China has been regulating plastic waste imports since 2007, due to enormous amounts, mismanagement and an increase in economical level of the country, on the 1st of January, 2018, China has announced a ban for all non-industrial plastic waste, which are less than 99.5% pure.

The policy, which said no to 7 million tons of plastic scrap annually, which was worth more than 6 billion dollars (South China Morning Post, 2018), eliminated more than 10% of China’s total plastic waste (Ritchie and Roser, 2019). The main exporters of their waste to China were Japan, USA, Germany, Belgium, Australia and Canada.

Within 1.5 years after the China Waste Ban, the policy caused an enormous ripple effect. While none of the other countries had a proper infrastructure ready to accept the load of plastic waste, high income countries couldn’t stop producing it as well. This situation has caused other East Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Malaisia, Philippines and Cambodia to become “dustbins”.

These countries, which a year ago thought they could earn money with p. 26

waste imports, are currently starting to imply regulations as well.

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“no to 7 million tones plastic scrap annually” South China Morning Post. (2018). Has the West learned its lesson from China’s plastic ban?. [online] [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018]

“China refuses to buy any recycled plastic scrap that wasn’t 99.5 percent pure.” news.nationalgeographic.com. (2018). Plastic Recycling Is Broken. Here’s How to Fix It.. [online] [Accessed 18 Dec. 2018]

“Around half of all westbound trans-Pasific container traffic was rubbish for recycling.” That makes

The Economist. (2018). A Chinese ban on rubbish imports is shaking up the global junk trade. [online] [Accessed 18 Dec. 2018]

South China Morning Post. (2018). Has the West learned its lesson from China’s plastic ban?. [online] [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018].

Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2019). Plastic Pollution. Our World in Data. [online] [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

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3% of total global container traffic.

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EUROPEAN SINGLE PLASTIC BAN Shortly after the China Waste Ban European Parliament agreed on banning single plastics and tackling the source of the marine and European coastal pollution. On the 24th of October, 2018, 571 European MPs have voted for implementing a new legislative against the plastic pollution (53 were against and 34 abstented) (European Parliament, 2018). According to the proposal, single use plastics accounts for around half of the marine plastic waste. Moreover, by banning just 10 single used products in the economy, 86% of all waste found on European coastlines can be eliminated.

Banned from 2021: - plates, cutlery, straws, balloon sticks or cotton buds, drink stirrers - oxo-degradable plastics, such as bags or packaging and fast-food containers from EPS. By 2025: - plastics where no alternatives available to be reduced by at least 25% - products such as: single-use burger boxes, sandwich boxes, food containers for fruits, vegetables, desserts or ice cream, plastic beverage bottles have to be collected separately and recycled at a range of 90% - cigarette filters containing plastic have to be reduced by 50% - at least 50% of lost or abandoned fishing gear containing plastic is collected per year, with a recycling target of at least 15% By 2030: - cigarette filters containing plastic have to be reduced by 80% Additionally applied regulations for producers of items such as wrappers, cigarette filters, wet wipes etcetera to cover the costs of waste-management and clean-up (so called extended producer responsibility); labelling requirements for sanitary towels, wet wipes and balloons to alert users to their correct disposal; awareness-raising. (European Parliament, 2018)

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European Parliament (2018). Plastic Oceans: MEPs back EU ban on throwaway plastics by 2021. [online] [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

FROM LI N E AR M OD EL T O CI RCULAR CYCLES

A collection of plastic bottle caps (sorted HDPE plastics) ready to be recycled

p. 30

p. 31

CIRCULAR ECONOMY MODEL Circular economy model is a model, which allows the material flow to follow the rules of nature while serving the purpose and needs of all the species without creating any sort of waste. The model, which:

“<...> is restorative and regenerative by design and aims to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, distinguishing between technical and biological cycles.”

(Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015) The transition from a linear economy model to a circular one, in other words - from “cradle to grave” to “cradle to cradle” - means to rethink the production and use of every item in order to let its purpose last as long as the lifespan of a material allows itself. It also seeks to stop the use of

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2015). Towards a Circular Economy: Business rationale for an accelerated transition. Pp.2-5. [online] [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

any finite resources.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

PLASTIC RECYCLING The key aspect of circular economy is to design for remanufacturing, refurbishing and recycling. While plastic recycling is still being assumed as a challenge rather than an opportunity, there are more and more companies and individuals who choose to recycle instead of using a virgin material.

The process of recycling consists of several steps. First of all, the most difficult part is the sorting of plastics. Since there are different types of plastics, it is important to divide the waste according to them. (This will later on be crucial due to different chemical composition and melting temperatures.) Lately, due to global regulations on labeling every plastic item with the number of the type, the recycling of the most used 6 types of plastics became much more efficient. Second step of plastic recycling is cleaning. This is a crucial, but, due to the high consumption of water, environmentally unfriendly part of the process. Thirdly, the plastics are being shredded. Depending on the recyclers and the further use, sometime plastics are first melted to a consistent piece of material and then shredded or extruded as pellets. Pre last step is forming the plastics. If plastics are being used for manufacturing plastic items, moulds and mould making process is an essential part. Many applications of plastic recycling require an injection moulding process, therefore the material is melting while forming. Although, if not, the last step of the process is melting.

There are several ways which can efficiently increase the value of recycling.

The important role is played by the technology advances. It is necessary to keep developing the process in order to make it environmentally friendly in each of the steps while maintaining the lowest possible price for recycling.

Also, technical improvements and regulations are both essential for closing the value and economic gap between recycled plastics and a virgin plastic material. (Hopewell, Dvorak and Kosior, 2009)

Hopewell, J., Dvorak, R. and Kosior, E. (2009). Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities. Philosophical Transactions of the p. 32

Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), pp. 2115-2126.

p. 33 Plastic shredding

Cooking

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Forming to a mould

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Precious Plastics is an initiative, according to them it’s a “global community”, which encourages collaborative thinking between people all around the World in order to recycle plastics in a small scale. In 2013, a duch designer Dave Hakkens came up with an idea to redesign industrial recycling machines into small, compact and relatively easy to build ones. Moreover, he published the drawings and other relevant information (such as tutorials, price lists and so on) online open source and let everyone who wants to make their own set.

A set of ‘plastic machines’ created for small-scale DIY plastic recycling includes: - Shredder (cuts plastic waste into small pieces / flakes for further recycling process) - Extrusion (produces a line of molded plastic by pushing it out and heating along the way) - Injection (creates plastic elements inside their moulds by warming up and pressing the plastic) - Compression (warms and slowly presses the plastic inside an oven) After more than 5 years, the community has grown all around the World, counting more than 104000 people who are investing their time to contribute by building and upgrading the machines, the process and the purposes it all could serve.

p. 34

- Preciousplastic.com. (2013). Precious Plastic mission. [online] [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

// technology improvements

p. 35

recycle on the spot

One of the members of Precious Plastic community is “Recycle on the Spot”. Created by the company Raw Paradise, “recycle on the spot” is an improved version of the precious plastic machinery. They have upgraded the concept of recycling at home to a smaller version of a shredder and an injection machine places in a suitcase.

By slightly modifying the equipment, the company made it easy to carry and spread the awareness outside a lab.

// marketplace

While thinking of recycling, an important role is taken by the question of how to find the right amount of material. Being an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of second-hand polymers in different countries, Scrapo provides a way to gather and easily access geolocated information for everyone who is interested.

offers to sell 1.5m tonnes of recovered plastic on Scrapo. It now has more than 10,000 users, 70% outside America. Just 6% are from traditional plastic-waste importers like China, Indonesia or Vietnam. (The Economist, 2018)

- The Economist. (2018). A Chinese ban on rubbish imports is shaking up the global junk trade. [online] [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Since its inauguration in November, suppliers have posted

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

APLICATIONS IN FASHION INDUSTRY Although there are a growing number of projects that are already fighting the plastic pollution and are treating the recycling of plastics, many of them are framed in the fashion and design fields, simply delaying the issue of these becoming waste in the short term, not dealing with longer-term implications.

“The long perspective is completely unlike the single reuse of popular “recycling”, when your plastic bottle becomes your parka . . . and in five years the parka goes to exactly the same dead-end cradle-to-grave where a few years earlier your bottle would have gone.”

(Braungart and McDonough, 2009) It is estimated that an average lifespan of garments is from 1 to 3 years and for running shoes / trainers - from 1 to 2 years (European Commission JRC – IPTS, Bio Intelligence Service, and ENSAIT, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textiles, 2014). This leads to a development of another threat to the environment, called the fashion industry. The estimation indicated that every second around 10 cubic meters of fabric is being burned or dumped around the world (Young, 2018). For better visualisation of what this number means, the total volume is equivalent to more than 126,000 olympic-size swimming pools of nonrecyclable material per year.

- Braungart, M. and McDonough, W. (2009). Cradle to cradle. 5th ed. London: Vintage.

- European Commission JRC – IPTS, Bio Intelligence Service, and ENSAIT, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries p. 36

Textiles (2014). Environmental improvement potential of textiles (IMPRO- Textiles). [online] Seville. [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

- Young, E. (2018). Fashion Waste is Rubbish - How Do We Solve the Issue?. [online] [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

p. 37

Upcycling the Oceans by Ecoalf Created in 2015, Spanish company Ecoalf is upcycling marine waste into fashion products. Their workflow involves fishermen from Mediteranean sea to bring the collected trash from the water to the shore to generate economic value and give plastics a new life.

DIOLEN®ReCIRCLE Another company which recycles plastic waste for the production of garments is Diolen ReCircle. The german based company recycles plastic bottles to produce high quality yarn. According to them, 48 polyethylene terephthalate bottles are equal to one kilogram of yarn and with 37 bottles of 1.5l they are able to produce a full outfit for a football player.

Adidas + Parley A collaboration between the second biggest sport apparel company Adidas and the environmental initiative Parley for the Oceans was established for fighting the plastic pollution. Adidas has a goal to change it’s way of production and to use only recycled plastics for all its products by 2024 (Hitti, 2018). While involving one of the most influential fashion companies, the collaboration plays an extremely important role in spreading the message

Circulary. (2017). DIOLEN®ReCIRCLE Yarn is Fighting Plastic in the Oceans. [online] [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

Hitti, N. (2018). Adidas reveals Manchester United third kit made from ocean plastic. [online] Dezeen. [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

about the pollution of the oceans.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

POTENTIAL IN ARCHITECTURE More promising application of recycled plastics is within a field of architecture.

Considering the fact that a building lasts from dozen to hundreds of years, plastic might be a beneficial addition to the constructions. Until now, recycled plastics have already been used as alternatives for roofing tiles, bricks, fences, structural lumber and so on. It has also proven to be a great addition while producing concrete, because it makes it stronger structurally and perfect for sidewalks, driveways and more. (Calovini, 2018) In recent years, technological improvements and global concerns about the problem led the architects all around the world to research for the applications and potential of recycled plastics in architecture. It has been used in many pavilions and small architecture object with a direct use for example houses from plastic bottles and boxes, inflatable pavilions from plastic bags, or indirect use - as cladding, lego type bricks or even 3D filament for robotically fabricated structure.

p. 38

Calovini, L. (2018). 10 Ways Recycled Plastics Are Used in Construction. [online] Shini USA. [Accessed 21 Sep. 2019].

p. 39 Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pavillion by Bureau SLA and Overtheders W, 2017

Origami Pavilion by IU School of Art, Architecture + Design in Bloomington, 2017

Cloud Village Chinese pavilion @ Venice Biennale 2018

Pretty Plastic Plant by Bureau SLA and Overtreders W, 2016

Head in the Clouds by STUDIOKCA, 2013

Gallery of Furniture by CHYBIK + KRISTOF, 2016

House from Recycled Plastic Bricks by Conceptos Plasticos, 2017

A wall from 1,500 baskets by Hyunje Joo, 2017

I-CONO by Bianchimajer and Anna Merci, 2019

PET pavilion by Project.DWG and LOOS.FM, 2014

Casa Umbrella by Kengo Kuma, 2013

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

The Cola-Bow Installation by Penda, 2013

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

People’s pavillion by Bureau SLA and Overtheders W, 2017 People’s Pavilion was built to host conferences of Dutch Design Week. As for a temporary structure, the initial idea was to create the pavilion from entirely borrowed materials, which could be returned and reused afterwards.

One of them - cladding system, made from recycled plastics by Belgium company Govaplast. The company is specializing in products made from recycled plastics for home, streets, playgrounds and so on. According to their website, since 1995, they’ve recycled 3.428.424.950 plastic bottles. Their process is entirely closed loop - the boards are intended to be recycled after use:

p. 40

- Govaplast. (2017). Production | Govaplast. [online] [Accessed 25 Aug. 2019].

p. 41

House from Recycled Plastic Bricks by Conceptos Plasticos, 2017 Columbian company called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Conceptos plasticosâ&#x20AC;? are specialising in building houses made from recycled plastics.

Their one 40 square meter building costs around 5500 eur and takes 5 days to build by a team of 6 people.

By using extrusion method, Conceptos Plasticos are melting post industrial and post consumer plastics into special moulds, which helps to achieve lego-like bricks for easier assembly. Moreover, according to the company, compressed plastic works as thermoacoustic and earthquake-resistant material perfect for Columbian climate.

One of the biggest accomplishments for the company was the construction of multiple houses for internally displaced families inside their home country. During 28 days, a team of 15 people have managed to provide

- Valencia, N. (2017). This House was Built in 5 Days Using Recycled Plastic Bricks. [online] ArchDaily. (Trans. Pimenta, Amanda) [Accessed 25 Aug 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

housing for 42 families and recycle 200 tons of plastics.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Plastic Bottle Village by Robert Bezeau, 2015 “One man’s trash is another man’s condo.” - Robert Bezeau Plastic Bottle Village is a project, which aims to build 120 buildings from reused plastic bottles within the next 10 years. Started in 2015 by Robert Bezeau, the village is located in the hilltop jungle of Isla Colón in the Bocas del Toro province of Panama. It is currently under construction, although several buildings are already fully done and accommodated.

Having in mind that plastic bottles are mainly reused as polyester fibers to produce garments, which then pollute the oceans throughout washing process, Robert Bezeau came up with an idea to collect plastic bottles, put them into metal cages and cover with concrete for the finishing. The outcome of the process looks exactly like a regular house while the empty plastic bottles works as an insulation from the heat as well as earthquakeresistant structure.

p. 42

- Duffield, M. (2016). Jungle village hits the bottle. [online] Atlas of the Future. [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

p. 43

Cloud Village Chinese pavilion @ Venice Biennale 2018 Cloud Village is an example how recycled plastics could be applied for digital fabrication. The pavilion, designed and created by Philip F. Yuan and his team for the Venice Biennale 2018, reuses plastic waste and creates an awareness for an environmental issues of Chinese countryside.

With the help of computational design and different densities of the structure, the pavilion demonstrates the strength and ability of the plastics to be applied for different uses and shapes, such as cantilever roof or seating area. As a result, the pavilion, made entirely out of 3D printed plastics, didn’t require any

- Wong, J. (2018). Chinese Pavilion Opens With Robot-Printed ‘Cloud Village’ at 2018 Venice Biennale. [online] ArchDaily.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

additional materials.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

PLASTI C < EM E RG E N CY > ARCHI TECTURE

p. 44

p. 45

Plastic Emergency Architecture is a research focused on the use of recycled plastics for small scale, easy to build architectural elements. While bringing back the economic value to the plastic waste, research explores the advantages of materiality, recycling process and possible design scenarios, finally creating awareness, social and ecological capita as well as improving liveability in areas affected by mismanaged plastic waste.

The first part of the chapter is called “Material research”. This part covers the basic steps which were taken to recycle plastics, several technical tests, such as load and transparency of each of the analyzed types.

Second part “Design with recycled plastics” introduces an architectural approach for the building matching the basic needs of living. After that follows the analysis of the joinery technique. Pre final part covers the research of the most convenient way for manufacturing at home environment as well as prototyping 1 to 1 scale. Finally, the obtained knowledge and experience

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

is applied in a specific location, introducing Indonesia as a case study.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

MATERIAL RESEARCH Plastic is a material with a wide range of properties. Depending on the type (more precisely defined in the first chapter â&#x20AC;&#x153;Plastics - global situationâ&#x20AC;?), plastic is durable, resistant to wear and chemicals, as well as weather conditions such as humidity, sun radiation, wind loads. Moreover, plastic is an extra light material, which can play an important role for applying it in architecture.

In this research four types of plastic was analyzed: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polylactic acid (PLA). These plastics have different chemical structure, therefore their melting temperatures varies from 160 degrees for HDPE to 270 degrees for PET. That, together with further recycling issues, are the main reasons why different types of plastic could not be considered to be melted together.

Research analyses which properties of different types of plastic could be the most beneficial for design and construction from plastic as well as how the properties are changing during the recycling process.

p. 46

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

p. 47

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

TENSILE STRENGTH Before designing with recycled plastics, the structural performance of each type of material was analyzed. The ultimate tensile strength was calculated using the Crash machine. It was done by applying compressed air through pneumatic piston. The maximum pressure tested 900 kPa. Although many samples did not break, tests gave the general view of how material thickness and times or recycling can affect the strength of the tiles.

The final results demonstrate that all the tiles of more than 1cm thickness can be very resistant and support heavy loads. Moreover, some of plastic (such as HDPE) can be used even thicker if needed (7 mm is the safest thickness, especially if recycled more than once).

Note: Information about polyethylene terephthalate is missing due to constant failures of shrinkage (more detailed defined in p.60).

recycled

re recycled

recycled

5 mm

re recycled

recycled

7 mm

re recycled 10 mm

32 gr

46 gr

information missing

information missing

information missing

information missing

152 kPa

145 kPa

information missing

information missing

information missing

information missing

24 gr

24 gr

36 gr

34 gr

52 gr

48 gr

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

324 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

26 gr

25 gr

34 gr

34 gr

47 gr

43 gr

490 kPa

248 kPa

655 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

36 gr

25 gr

49 gr

49 gr

59 gr

57 gr

603 kPa

234 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

was not reached max tested - 900 kPa

PET

HDPE

PP

PLA p. 48

p. 49 Tensile strength test of 5mm PET

Tensile strength test of 7mm HDPE

Tensile strength test of 7mm PP

Tensile strength test of 7mm PLA

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Catalogue of the results of tensile strength tests

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

TRANSPARENCY Another property of recycled plastics as a building material is light conductivity. Depending on the primary plastic items fed to the recycling process, the recycled tiles can let the light pass while creating unpredictable patterns. For the light test demonstrated below all four different types of plastic were tested: PET, HDPE, PP and PLA. While only PET and PLA were light color tiles from more than 50% transparent or translucent, that did not necessarily led to the lightest results. While melting, polyethylene terephthalate have gained a foggy effect which resulted in the loss of transparency.

recycled ethylene terephtalate

recycled high density polyethylene

recycled polypropylene

p. 50

recycled polyactic acid

p. 51 recycled ethylene terephtalate transparency: 13.73%

recycled high density polyethylene transparency: 21.21%

recycled polyactic acid transparency: 25.89%

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

recycled polypropylene transparency: 9.39%

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

DESIGN WITH RECYCLED PLASTICS Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture introduces recycled plastics as the material for the production of tiles for building walls and roof. Due to its strength even while being a thin panel, this approach is resistant enough for different weather conditions, simple enough for people to make it and moreover, it can integrate the play of light for illumination as well as aesthetics.

The structural performance is based on the local materials for the structure.

Using the most convenient option for each part of the world, for example bamboo, scaffolding or even timber, the approach of Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture can be applied worldwide.

The approach of local structure cladded with recycled plastics allows a high level of customisation. While the structure can change according to the geographic location, the size of the tiles can vary due to the moulds, materials of moulds, amount of waste which needs to be processed or even personal preferences.

Axonometry (p.53) demonstrates a minimum size building with plastic tiles of 500x500 mm each. 140 tiles are needed to build it.

p. 52

p. 53 Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Axonometric drawing of a structure with tiles of a single room house for basic needs

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

BASIC PLAN DISTRIBUTION The minimum plan for the building was designed keeping in mind the requirements for comfortable living. A single room house has a total of 10.6 sqm floor area. It consists of a living space, a small kitchen and a bathroom. The plan was developed to understand how compact the building can be, still maintaining the level of comfort. The idea was to keep it as simple as possible.

p. 54

Floor plan drawing of a single room house for basic needs

p. 55

JOINERY EXPLORATIONS While designing a tile system, assembly part come hand in hand. The design of joinery was done balancing between two main aspects: structural performance and feasibility for people in need to do it themselves. And additional task was to create a system which does not require any additional elements such as screws or bolts and can be made entirely out of plastics.

The biggest task for creating a joinery system was the materiality itself.

Being a synthetic element to the world, plastic is usually shaped while manufacturing and there is a lack of examples how to join two pieces together. Moreover, analysis of joinery from different materials, such as wood, had to be taken very carefully, due to different material properties and distribution of strength. Plastic is the most fragile when being a thin or narrow piece, resulting breaking and creating microplastics. Tensile strength results were taken as the main input which defined the minimum

Catalogue for different joineries

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

thickness for each part of the joinery as well as overall thickness of a tile.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

PET NAILS One of discovered solutions was the use polyethylene terephthalate bottles. The decision was made keeping in mind that PET plastic was difficult to melt. PET nail approach considered plastic bottles as a source for a wide plastic wire, which rolled tight together and fitted into the holes on two tiles are able to hold them together as bolts would do. After prototyping, the solution came out working well in case of keeping tiles together, but lacking the stability due to the weight and vertical placement of the system.

Setup for PET nails fabrication

p. 56

Prototype of a tile system connected with PET nails

p. 57

DOVETAIL JOINT WITH PET NAIL SUPPORT A combination of two - dovetail joints with some PET nails was chosen.

While the design of dovetail joints is preventing tiles from sliding in x and y direction, PET nails add additional z axis to prevent tiles from falling apart.

For keeping the structure as simple as it can be, the tiles have two sides with the joints while the other two sides are left unjoined. The system works in both directions due to the repetitive joints and possible sliding before adjustment. Moreover, this allows to design the building without any limits within a box shape and lets variations of the shape.

Side view of two tiles with dovetail joinery

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Tile system connected with dovetail joinery

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

MOULD MAKING Mould making is an initial part of plastic recycling process. They can be from various materials and made in many different ways, as long as they withstand the necessary temperature for plastic melting (from 160°C to 270°C, depending on the type of plastic).

The safest and most commonly used types of moulds are the ones from metal, for example aluminium or steel. Although they have disadvantages.

Steel moulds are relatively cheap, but due to rust, they require a lot of time to prepare before each operation (for example sanding it out).

Stainless steel moulds are much more expensive and very heavy in case of transportation. On the other hand, they could be used close to infinitive amount of times with very minimal care. Aluminium moulds are also long lasting and much lighter. The disadvantage of aluminium moulds are the softness of the metal. Due to a high level of strength as well as shrinkage of the most types of plastic, aluminium mould are likely to deform during the cooling down process which will lead to an unpredictable deformation of the tiles.

Searching for the best mould making technique mould from wood, silicone and wood with silicone were tested. The results revealed that wood moulds are single use type of mould. Although they are cheap and relatively easy to make, while cooling down, wood shows up as a weaker material than plastic. Since wood is a porous material, melted plastic gets inside the wood, which later on results the wood to break first while plastic is shrinking.

Only silicone moulds could be considered as a solution for experimental shapes for plastic with a low melting point. It is a cheap option, but has several negative aspects. First of all, silicone is a synthetic termoset, which means it is unrecycleable type of plastics and the use of it contributes to the global crisis of plastic pollution. Secondly, it is difficult to maintain the necessary shape, because plastic, which is used in this research is much stronger than silicone and tends to deform while cooling. Wooden moulds with silicone coating showed unexpected positive results. Wood, used as a structure for silicone, and silicone, used as a coating for wood, turned out as a perfect combination for affordable, long lasting alternative of metal moulds. The only negative aspect is the lack of ability to recycle silicone.

p. 58

p. 59

Sheet metal moulds Sheet metal moulds are the most convenient for their price and assembly process. Requiring a minimal amount of machinery, sheet metal moulds can be made in various locations with basic metal shop tools.

Two types of sheet metal moulds were tested during the research. The results have shown that while the steel metal mould was working well, it was requiring a lot of time and care because of the rust. On the other hand aluminium sheet moulds were working much better in a small scale.

Unfortunately, for a big scale (350x400 mm), aluminium sheet mould was too thin and resulted in deformation of the tiles.

Aluminium mould with once recycled white polypropylene

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Steel mould made by Fab Lab Barcelona

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Silicone moulds Silicone moulds are being used in many industries. They have a high melting point (from 240 to 280 degrees), therefore are often used for gastronomy.

Moreover, silicone is a thermoset plastic, that is why no material sticks to it even without any additional layer of coating.

The decision to try to use silicone mould came up after continuous failures while melting polyethylene terephthalate. During the research, first type of plastics tend to crack almost every time when cooling down. The main reason for that was the mould from steel. Plastic tend to get attached to the sides of the mould and while cooling down and shrinking, tend to break before disattaching from the mould.

Unfortunately, the results of melting plastics in a silicone mould came out negative. It was not only unsuccessful while solving the problem with PET (melting temperatures are too close, therefore the bottom part of the mould have melted together with PET), but also showed another reason not to use it. Because silicone is a soft material, it makes it difficult to keep in particular shape as well as total smoothness turned out to create a negative impact on the tiles - while cooling down/ shrinking, the tile got easily deformed and silicone couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t keep it in the right shape.

p. 60

p. 61 PET tile melted into a silicone mould

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

PET tile melted into a silicone mould

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Axonometry of a wooden mould

p. 62

p. 63

Wooden moulds From the first impression wooden moulds look like a cheap and sustainable way to melt plastics. Having a melting point at 600 degrees, wood can easily withstand the temperature requirement for plastics.

Moreover, it is a material which can be cut in many fab labs or carpentry places all around the world.

Fabrication of wooden mould

Step 1 - milling (2 h) Step 2 - sanding (1h) Step 3 - cooking (1h) Total mould fabrication time 3h.

Mould can not be used again. Due to porosity of the wood, after getting liquid, plastics got to the wood

Wooden mould

causing strong adhesion. Moreover, when plastics started shrinking, it created cracks in several parts of the mould causing weakness and finally breaking down.

Wooden mould with plastics before cooking

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Cooking of plastics inside wooden mould

Learning for the future: Wood can not be used as a material for mould making for plastic. Analysis on what type of coating can be used (non-flammable, suitable for high temperatures) should be done before continuing.

Destruction of wooden mould

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Wooden mould with silicone V1 The first version of wood + silicone mould was manufactured as a trial, since wood needs a coating and silicone can survive without melting in high temperature. While doing the experiment, the result came out well, although the middle of the plastic tile deformed due to the faster cooling than the sides (less

step 1

surface touching the mould) while cooling down and silicone was not able to hold the plastic and prevent deformation.

Step 1 - wood cutting and assemby (1.5 h) Step 2 - silicone casting (16.5 h) Step 3 - unpacking (0.5 h) Step 4 - preparation (0.5 h)

step 2

Step 5 - cooking (1 h) Total mould fabrication time Âą18 h.

Mould can be used again.

step 3

step 4

Learning for the future: Consider making the cover part of the mould so plastic does not deform. Moreover, better integration of silicone p. 64

to the wood might increase the life of the mould.

p. 65

Wooden mould with silicone V2 The second version of wooden mould with silicone was upgraded by integrating the design of the joinery as well as keeping in consideration the learnings from the previous version (cover and better integration of the silicone). step 1

Step 1 - milling (1.5 - 2 h) Step 2 - silicone casting (16.5 h) Step 3 - unpacking (0.5 h) Step 4 - preparation (0.5 h) Step 5 - cooking (estimated: 1.5h) Total mould fabrication time Âą19h.

Mould can be used again, or fixed by recasting silicone

step 2

(wooden part was reused to prepare the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wooden Mould with silicone V3â&#x20AC;? (p.68)).

step 3

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

step 4

Learning for the future: The mould was created taking in consideration silicone integration in the sides of the mould without attaching it to the bottom. This mistake led to the popping up of the silicone out from the wood while heating up in the oven. step 5

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture Axonometry of a wooden mould with silicone

p. 66

p. 67

Wooden mould with silicone V3 This version was tested on the same piece of wood only adding holes in the bottom and changing the layer of silicone. The updates led to a great result.

The joinery system turned out well and a high level of shrinkage was not detected. step 1

Step 1 - milling (skipped) Step 2 - silicone casting (16.5 h) Step 3 - unpacking (0.5 h) Step 4 - preparation (0.5 h) Step 5 - cooking (1.5h) Total mould fabrication time 17h.

Mould can be used again.

step 2

step 3

Learning for the future: Mould worked out fine and could be considered as an alternative for metal moulds. The lack of ecological aspect of silicone should not be forgotten.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

step 4

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

FINAL TILE SYSTEM PROPOTYTE After researching and prototyping different types of mould, the final piece was fabricated by milling a block of aluminium. Being the longest lasting and requiring the least care, aluminium mould is worth the price for a construction of a building.

The mould for final tile system consists of two parts: the bottom and the top. Bottom part of the mould works as a holder for shredded plastic. It has to be tall enough (as the future tile) or a bit higher to keep plastic and prevent from leaking. Moreover, it has an integrated geometry to create a joinery on the tile as well as a grove all around for the top part to “sit” and maintain the right alignment. Top part of the mould is considered “a cap”.

It has a geometry of the joinery integrated as well, in order to create double sided system. This part is used to press the plastic down when it is already melted.

No tolerance was added due to the high level of shrinkage of plastic.

The final result (see p.71) was a tile cut in half to analyse how the joinery works in real life. Although the full melting temperature was not reached (heat leakage and unstable heating temperature of the oven), the tile and its joinery came out well. Due to the small geometry and less plastic used in those parts, shrinkage and no negative impact and worked as a perfect tolerance for joining of the tiles.

p. 68

img 01: milling of the mould

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Axonometry of the final mould p. 69

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture Detail of the mould

Perspective view of the mould - bottom part

Perspective view of the mould - top part

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The bottom part of the mould right after milling

Detail of the mould

p. 71 The tile in the mould after cooling down

Detail of the tile on the mould - joinery

Detail of the tile in the mould - shrinkage

Side view of the tile

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Perspective view of the tile

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

APPLICATION IN CASE STUDY: INDONESIA

A boy plays in a polluted river after school at Pluit dam in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 5, 2009 Photo credit: Beawiharta/Reuters

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CURRENT SITUATION After China’s Waste Ban in 2018, Indonesia, together with Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, became the main destination of westworld trash.

According to OurWorldInData, country, which has a population of 263 million people and which coastline spreads for over 54 thousand kilometers is a second on a list for mismanaged plastic waste (Ritchie and Roser, 2019).

It is estimated that every day Indonesia generates around 25,000 tons of plastic waste, out of which around 20% might be reaching waters. In numbers, that represents 10 tons of plastic waste reaching waters around Indonesia every 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, Indonesia does not have neither facilities nor enough space to accommodate all the waste it is forced to import. China waste ban has led Indonesia to extreme air pollution, especially around the landfills and appearance of hundreds of illegal recycling plants. The country and its regions are trying to tackle mismanaged plastic problem within the goals for the future (the local government encounters 30 percent reduction of plastic waste by 2025 (Parker, 2018)) and by small interventions, but that is not enough.

“To encourage recycling, the authorities in the Bandung area are supporting initiatives in “eco-villages” where residents can bring old plastic items and earn small amounts of money in exchange.”

(Shukman, 2018) There is an urgent need for wider education and social awareness on the

Mann, A. (2019). The waste challenge: Is Indonesia at a tipping point?. [online] The Jakarta Post. [Accessed 23 Sep. 2019].

Parker, L. (2018). Sperm whale found dead with 13 pounds of plastic in its stomach. [online] Nationalgeographic.com. [Accessed 23 Sep. 2019].

Shukman, D. (2018). Plastic ‘berg chokes Indonesian river. [online] BBC News. [Accessed 23 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

topic and the value plastic and recycling can bring.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

OVERLAPING DATA OF MISMANAGED PLASTIC WASTE AND DISLOCATED PEOPLE One of the main reasons for choosing Indonesia as a case study was the overlap of two data sets of mismanaged plastic waste over dislocated people (people who have been forced to leave their home due to a natural or human made disasters, but havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t left the country). The results have shown that Indonesia (mismanaged plastic waste 3,216,856 tons and an average of 490,735 dislocated people per year) is one of the four most affected countries in the world (after China (8,819,717; 7,711,433), India (599,819; 3,957,556) and Philippines (1,883,659; 3,682,117) (Ritchie and Roser, 2019).

Due to geographical location, being on a high number of tectonic plates, Indonesia and its people are in a constant risk of losing their homes. The use of plastic as high resistant material, instead of cardboard or wood, could increase liveability of informal housing.

p. 74

Top 20 countries by missmanaged plastic waste (tons per year)

Top 20 countries by dislocated people (average per year)

p. 75 Top 20 countries by dislocated people (average per year)

Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2019). Plastic Pollution. Our World in Data. [online] [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Top 20 countries by missmanaged plastic waste (tons per year)

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

GEOMETRY OF THE HOUSE Indonesian climate have set the rules for generating the shape of the building. Designing based on the minimum plan for a single room house, the roof and walls have been generated according to the specific climate conditions.

Two main aspects taken into consideration were rain and sun. Due to the tropical climate, Indonesia has monsoon season each year which affects the housing units. To begin with, the roof was designed with integrated slope, to withstand heavy rains. Furthermore, the wall inclination was created in order to protect the future residents from the extent radiation not only inside the house, but also by creating the maximum shadow area for outside activities.

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TILE DISTRIBUTION It is important to understand what type of tile should be placed in each part of the building. Since designing with recycled plastics, there are several parameters which can influence the structural performance of the building: type of plastic due to various stiffness, type of plastic due to the curve of bending, tile thickness and light conductivity.

While the last two are matching together, meaning that the thinnest tiles can me the most translucent, other parameters have been considered as well, to maintain the most rational distribution in order to keep the generated shape which are translated into the distribution of different tiles on the right).

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

shape without the need to overload the inner structure. (Left side of the image identifies the weak areas of the

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

I MPACT BEYON D D E SI G N G LOBAL I M PLI CATI ON S

A man collects plastic and other recyclable materials from debris in the waters of Manila Bay. Manila, Philippines, July 30, 2012. Photo credit: Erik de Castro/REUTERS

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Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture tackles the problems not only within material scale, but also in a broader view. As a research, targeted at material upcycling within a lower income countries, it pays attention to not only economic, but also ecological and social aspects.

Recycling of mismanaged plastic waste could potentially create social activities, generate community driven approaches and increase knowledge sharing within different generations. It could create estetical satisfaction within people and their surroundings, eliminate air and water contamination and increase the level of happiness. Wider knowledge of the recycling process could empower zero waste lifestyle and in a long time perspective could even bringing new potential for business and investments for self sufficient habitats.

When littered, the economic impact of plastics encompasses not just the lost economic value in the material, but also the costs of cleaning up and losses for tourism, fisheries and shipping.

European Parliament (2018). Plastic Oceans: MEPs back EU ban on throwaway plastics by 2021. [online] [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

(European Parliament, 2018)

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

A DRIVER OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY Created for recycling, Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture introduces a building model which is not limited to a single use. Material properties analysis have shown the possibilities for plastic upcycling more than once and the design strategy relies on pure use of polymers without mixing between each other and without using additives.

The possible scenario sees plastic waste as an input for increasing the condition of a small housing unit / shelter. Keeping in mind that the living conditions could make an impact on economic level of residents and shelters may no longer be needed in a time period of several decades, tiles are designed to be shredded later on for the same purpose or to create interior elements such as furniture, wall finishing or decor.

Even though plastics are artificial material and the process of reusing it can not create a full circle, the use of plastics in a long lasting application such as architecture allows us to maintain the quality of material without deterioration for the longest time period possible.

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ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS The use of recycled plastic in architecture has a wide list of benefits. It is not only a cheap and easily accessible material, but it also contributes to the environment. It tackles the problem of microplastics and mismanaged plastic waste reaching the oceans. Upcycling to a log use application such as housing, increases the lifespan of each piece of plastic for more than 10-20 years. Furthermore, due to its lightness, constructions from plastics saves energy and CO2 emission from transportation.

A single room building, with the tiles of 20mm thickness for better resistance, joinery and insulation, can be made out of around 1 ton of plastics. According to OurWorldInData, until 2015, 7.8 billion tons of plastic was created in the world (Ritchie and Roser, 2019). The number is bigger than the global population.

That means that not only there is enough plastic waste for each person around the world, but also, if right now every person in the world builds at least a small house for himself, missmanage plastic would no longer be an environmental crisis and there would be no plastics in the ocean

Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2019). Plastic Pollution. Our World in Data. [online] [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

and other natural habitat polluting flora and fauna.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

RE RE:CYCLED CHAIR To achieve a circular economy model a single time recycling process can not be a solution. The project aims to prove that after the use of a shelter from recycled plastics, the panels could be easily disassembled and repurposed to create long term furniture objects for a new permanent accommodation. To prove the concept and strength while recycling more than once, a chair was made. After the second round of recycling, materials such as HDPE, LDPE and PP are barely losing structural properties, therefore could be used to withstand at least 100kg weight (or more, all depends on the thickness of plastic).

82 p.p.82

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p. 83 p. 83

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

SOCIAL INTEGRATION affected by plastic pollution should have access to education on this topic. There is a growing number of people, who see plastic recycling as an opportunity for getting some money. People are voluntarily gathering for the cleanups all over the globe. It is crucial to spread awareness not only how to separate plastic items, but also how to use it to the fullest benefits, for example how to, with a little more effort, people can improve their living conditions and potentially health of them and their family.

An example in Bhopal, India shows that by supplying awareness and introducing little help of social security to already existing recyclers, the community is gathering together to improve its environment and earn extra money for their families. Moreover, the particular example shows how recycling empowers and creates alternative workplaces to women, who now are able to provide education to their kids.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;By collecting and selling plastic waste to the smart segregation and reprocessing centers established by Sarthak and the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, we earn up to US$6-8 in a day, which allows us to send our children to school and pay rent for a place to stay.â&#x20AC;?

(Global Environment Facility, 2018)

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A GEF Small Grants Programme project in Bhopal, India has provided technical and financial assistance to waste pickers, mostly women, with the aim of improving their living conditions while protecting the local environment. Photo credits: Global Environment Facility

p. 85 [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Global Environment Facility. (2018). Plastic management system improves livelihoods of Bhopal women, helps the environment.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

C ONC LU S IONS

A dump site in Manila in 2013.

Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images

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Plastic Emergency Architecture is a research focused on the use of recycled plastics for small scale, easy to build architectural elements. While bringing back the economic value to the plastic waste, research explores the advantages of materiality, recycling process and possible design scenarios, finally creating awareness, social and ecological capita as well as improving liveability in areas affected by mismanaged plastic waste.

Within this research a concept, design and construction strategies have been developed. Using a shredder, one of Precious Plastic machines and an oven, project analysed the material properties and possibilities. Recycled plastics have proven to have good behaviour in terms of structural performance, making them an interesting material to consider for the construction sector, potentially becoming a keystone in reversing mismanaged waste practices. It also proved the feasibility of using plastic, one of the most mismanaged waste materials in the low income countries, as a cheap and resilient material for constructions. Moreover, it demonstrated the ways to involve local community in all the processes by providing theoretical

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

information for the form of construction within â&#x20AC;&#x153;do it yourselfâ&#x20AC;? framework.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Research encourages on site recycling and construction by spreading knowledge first and foremost in relation to the potential value of plastic waste. This value is also closely associated to the sharing of knowledge necessary to put this procedure into practice, as well as a bottom-up solution to dealing with situations of mismanaged plastic waste. Analysing the development of aggregation applicable in architecture and exploring changes of plastic properties while recycling of already recycled plastics, the project generates the information and offers a scenario where not only the lifespan of the recycled plastic is extended, but also foresees a vision of spiral design, beyond the recycled plasticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial application.

Finally, Plastic Emergency Architecture demonstrates how recycling of mismanaged plastic waste could potentially create social activities, generate community driven approaches and increase knowledge sharing within different generations. Also, how it could create estetical satisfaction within people and their surroundings, eliminate air and water contamination and increase the level of happiness. Wider knowledge of the recycling process could empower zero waste lifestyle and in a long time perspective could even bringing new potential for business and investments for self sufficient habitats.

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p. 91 Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

Aerial image of a landfill Photo credit: Preciuos Plastic

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

I MPACT SUG G BEYON E STI ONDS DFEOR SI G N G FUTURE LOBAL D I ME PLI VE LOPM CATI ON E NST

Children collect plastic water bottles among the garbage washed ashore at the Manila Bay. Photo credit: AFP/Getty

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The next steps of the project could include the joinery explorations between the tiles and the structure as well as scaling up the project while testing its strength and resistance to weather conditions. Moreover, a real scale prototype would be essential to understand all potential risks and threats of the concept in the real life.

Finally, the bigger picture of the project would include a creation of an open source platform, allowing people in need to define the parameters of the house they would like to build (for example square meters, number of rooms) or the amount of material they could gather. By creating a catalogue of different units and feeding the information to machine learning engine, the outcome could provide information for the platform to be able to generate the datasheets with the material, time and space

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

requirements for the construction of the shelter specified or similar to it.

Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

BIBLIOGRAPHY •

United Nations. (2015) Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. [online] New York. Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20 Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf [Accessed 15 Sep. 2019].

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American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks. (1993) Bakelite: The World’s First Synthetic Plastic. [online] Available at: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/ landmarks/bakelite.html [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

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Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. and Law, K. (2017) Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), p.e1700782.

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The World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey & Company. (2016) The New Plastics Economy — Rethinking the future of plastics. [online] Available at: http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation. org/publications [Accessed 2 Oct. 2018].

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American Chemistry Council. (2012) How Many Kinds of Plastics are There?. [online] Available at: https:// www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com/about-plastics/types-of-plastics/professor-plastics-how-many-types-ofplastics-are-there/ [Accessed 18 Aug. 2019].

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Ji, L. (2013). Study on Preparation Process and Properties of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). Applied Mechanics and Materials, 312, pp. 406-410.

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Hopewell, J., Dvorak, R. and Kosior, E. (2009) Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), pp. 2115-2126.

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Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2015). Towards a Circular Economy: Business rationale for an accelerated transition. Pp.2-5. [online] Available at: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/ TCE_Ellen-MacArthur-Foundation_9-Dec-2015.pdf [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

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Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2019). Plastic Pollution. Our World in Data. [online] Available at: https:// ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution [Accessed 2 Sep. 2019].

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South China Morning Post. (2018). Has the West learned its lesson from China’s plastic ban?. [online] Available at: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2132771/journey-waste-has-west-learned-itslesson-chinas-plastic-ban [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018].

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europarl.europa.eu. (2018) Plastic Oceans: MEPs back EU ban on throwaway plastics by 2021. [online] Available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20181018IPR16524/plastic-oceans-mepsback-eu-ban-on-throwaway-plastics-by-2021 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018].

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Hopewell, J., Dvorak, R. and Kosior, E. (2009). Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), pp. 2115-2126.

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Preciousplastic.com. (2013). Precious Plastic mission. [online] Available at: https://preciousplastic.com/en/ mission.html [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

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The Economist. (2018). A Chinese ban on rubbish imports is shaking up the global junk trade. [online] Available at: https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2018/09/27/a-chinese-ban-on-rubbishimports-is-shaking-up-the-global-junk-trade [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

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Braungart, M. and McDonough, W. (2009). Cradle to cradle. 5th ed. London: Vintage.

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European Commission JRC – IPTS, Bio Intelligence Service, and ENSAIT, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textiles (2014). Environmental improvement potential of textiles (IMPRO- Textiles). [online] Seville. Available at: https://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/textiles/docs/120423%20IMPRO%20Textiles_ Publication%20draft%20v1.pdf [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

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Young, E. (2018). Fashion Waste is Rubbish - How Do We Solve the Issue?. [online] Wtvox.com. Available at: https://wtvox.com/fashion/fashion-waste/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

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Circulary. (2017). DIOLEN®ReCIRCLE Yarn is Fighting Plastic in the Oceans. [online] Available at: http://www. circulary.eu/project/diolenrecircle/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

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Calovini, L. (2018). 10 Ways Recycled Plastics Are Used in Construction. [online] Shini USA. Available at: https://www.shiniusa.com/2018/01/29/recycled-plastics-construction/?fbclid=IwAR33SZdf6oag-rpyK6e1mrDP Un5ovO7F0pw9izjOEKDTYo8MvXRLcnouJEw [Accessed 21 Sep. 2019].

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Govaplast. (2017) Production | Govaplast. [online] [Accessed 25 Aug. 2019].

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Valencia, N. (2017). This House was Built in 5 Days Using Recycled Plastic Bricks. [online] ArchDaily. (Trans.

Pimenta, Amanda) Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/869926/this-house-was-built-in-5-days-usingrecycled-plastic-bricks [Accessed 25 Aug 2019].

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Duffield, M. (2016). Jungle village hits the bottle. [online] Atlas of the Future. Available at: https:// atlasofthefuture.org/project/plastic-bottle-village/?fbclid=IwAR33RjCVZ-3pXw0ZtEiqWK219nLibFricuS7n6FiN NbBRRqEEZGd-WFMovE [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

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Wong, J. (2018). Chinese Pavilion Opens With Robot-Printed ‘Cloud Village’ at 2018 Venice Biennale. [online] ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/894986/chinese-pavilion-opens-with-robot-printed-cloudvillage-at-2018-venice-biennale [Accessed 25 Aug. 2019].

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Mann, A. (2019). The waste challenge: Is Indonesia at a tipping point?. [online] The Jakarta Post. Available at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/03/01/the-waste-challenge-is-indonesia-at-a-tippingpoint-1551431355.html [Accessed 23 Sep. 2019].

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Parker, L. (2018). Sperm whale found dead with 13 pounds of plastic in its stomach. [online] Nationalgeographic.com. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/ dead-sperm-whale-filled-with-plastic-trash-indonesia/?fbclid=IwAR2GW6ksltn-mBtE6AYsjTkCL9dixXfbjhymqnkbNURpEsGlPJio0fG_go [Accessed 23 Sep. 2019].

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Shukman, D. (2018). Plastic ‘berg chokes Indonesian river. [online] BBC News. Available at: https:// www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43823883?fbclid=IwAR1bCZRn_lAaGx-jXg6GOzP4ScxztXi0dMUC4IX4TduhGNy_t5AIt3bYRU [Accessed 23 Sep. 2019].

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Global Environment Facility. (2018). Plastic management system improves livelihoods of Bhopal women, helps the environment. [online] Available at: https://www.thegef.org/news/plastic-management-systemimproves-livelihoods-bhopal-women-helps-environment [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Hitti, N. (2018). Adidas reveals Manchester United third kit made from ocean plastic. [online] Dezeen.

Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2018/05/18/adidas-reveals-latest-manchester-united-kit-made-fromparley-ocean-plastic/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

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Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture

TABLE OF IMAGES

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Black footed albatross chick with plastics. Photo credit: Dan Clark/USFWS [online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/28992209381/in/photostream/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Landfill Ballerina. Photo credit: Arash Yaghmaian [online] Available at: https://www.ephotozine.com/article/photo-of--landfill-girl--wins-hipa-grand-prizeof--120-000-30722 [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Sustainable Development Goals. Colors identifies the ones which are aligned with the research Plastic <Emergency> Architecture.

United Nations (2015). Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. [online] New York. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/12/sustainable-developmentgoals-kick-off-with-start-of-new-year/ [Accessed 15 Sep. 2019].

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A Chinese laborer sorts plastic bottles for recycling in Dong Xiao Kou village on the outskirts of Beijing.

Photo credit: Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images [online] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fopinions%2fconsc ientious-recyclers-should-hop-to-it%2f2018%2f06%2f05%2f1e6187f4-6834-11e8-a335-c4503d041eaf_story. html%3f [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Chinese Import Ban on Global Recyclables Reaching Fever Pitch. Source: Getty Images. [online] Available at: https://medium.com/@cdls.climatecurrents/this-week-in-climate-2c695fe6dfdb [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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The Cola-Bow Installation by Penda, 2013 [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/394382/the-cola-bow-installation-penda [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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People’s pavilion by Bureau SLA and Overtheders W, 2017 [online] Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/27/peoples-pavilion-dutch-design-week-lowecological-footprint-bureau-sla-overtreders-w/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Origami Pavilion by IU School of Art, Architecture + Design in Bloomington, 2017 [online] Available at: https://inhabitat.com/spectacular-origami-pavilion-made-of-recycled-plastic-pops-upin-columbus-indiana/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Cloud Village Chinese pavilion @ Venice Biennale, 2018 [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/894986/chinese-pavilion-opens-with-robot-printed-cloudvillage-at-2018-venice-biennale [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Pretty Plastic Plant by Bureau SLA and Overtreders W, 2016 [online] Available at: https://www.domusweb.it/en/news/2017/03/03/pretty_plastic_plant_overtraders_w_ bureau_sla.html [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Head in the Clouds by STUDIOKCA, 2013 [online] Available at: https://urbannext.net/head-in-the-clouds/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Gallery of Furniture by CHYBIK + KRISTOF, 2016 [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/869729/gallery-of-furniture-chybik-plus-kristof [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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House from Recycled Plastic Bricks by Conceptos Plasticos, 2017 [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/869926/this-house-was-built-in-5-days-using-recycledplastic-bricks [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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A wall from 1,500 baskets by Hyunje Joo, 2017 [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/881513/1500-semi-transparent-baskets-to-build-alightweight-facade [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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I-CONO by Bianchimajer and Anna Merci, 2019 [online] Available at: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/bianchimajer-and-anna-merci-iconopavilion-2500-plastic-bottles-center-mexico-city-01-13-2019/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Casa Umbrella by Kengo Kuma, 2013 [online] Available at: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/kengo-kuma-umbrella-house/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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A boy plays in a polluted river after school at Pluit dam in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 5, 2009. Photo credit: Beawiharta/Reuters [online] Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/images-of-children-playing-in-garbage-2014-10 [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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A man collects plastic and other recyclable materials from debris in the waters of Manila Bay, Manila, Philippines, July 30, 2012. Photo credit: Erik de Castro/REUTERS [online] Available at: https://www.sott.net/article/350270-The-oceans-are-drowning-in-plastic-is-anyonepaying-attention [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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A GEF Small Grants Programme project in Bhopal, India has provided technical and financial assistance to waste pickers, mostly women, with the aim of improving their living conditions while protecting the local environment. Photo credits: Global Environment Facility [online] Available at: https://www.thegef.org/news/plastic-management-system-improves-livelihoodsbhopal-women-helps-environment [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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A dump site in Manila in 2013. Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images [online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/plastic-biodegradable-environmentpollution-a8908226.html [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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Aerial image of a landfill. Photo credit: Precious Plastic Precious Plastic Starter Kit. [online] Available at: https://preciousplastic.com/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].

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Children collect plastic water bottles among the garbage washed ashore at the Manila Bay. Photo credit: AFP/Getty [online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/plastic-biodegradable-environmentpollution-a8908226.html [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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PET pavilion by Project.DWG and LOOS.FM, 2014 [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/870029/from-recycled-plastic-waste-to-building-material [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

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2019 Plastic < EMERGENCY > Architecture