Design From Recycling

What is about?

The Design From Recycling (DFR) project is a two year government funded project (VLAIO), focusing on technology transfer between knowledge institutes as CPMT and companies. Partners are research institutes and governmental institutes, recycling companies and plastic processors, as well as designer companies and product developers.

The DFR-project offers a new approach to the recycling world by focusing on the transformation of post consumer or post industrial waste streams into new products with recycled content, with regard to the environmental influence of the total process. As the DFR-project sets the closing of material loops as a goal, the principles of circular economy are respected.

Objective of the research

In this concept of thinking, the waste streams are regarded as valuable material streams and practical directions for the matchmaking between the material streams and products will be formulated in a user guide with tips and tricks, do’s and don’ts for design with recycled materials. Ecological and resource efficiency of the new products will be evaluated, using simple tools as the ‘Eco-ster’ and more in-depth approaches as Life Cycle Analysis, focusing on energy and water consumption and on CO₂ reduction.

The applicability of the DFR concept will be demonstrated by several design cases. For example, a handy design tool, named ‘The Determinator’ was recently developed, combining injection moulding challenges (ribs, hinges, weld lines) with designer aspects (feel, texture, stiffness). Various material streams are evaluated on this tool, proven useful in the concept step for a designer as well as valuable in the processing phase, making the transition from waste to product a reality.

Key publications

Ragaert, Kim; Hubo, Sara; Delva, Laurens; Veelaert, Lore; Dubois, Els. Upcycling of Contaminated Post-Industrial Polypropylene Waste: a Design from Recycling Case Study. Polymer Engineering and Science, 2018

Design from Recycling
Lore Veelaert, Els Du Bois, Sara Hubo UGent, Karen Van Kets UGent and Kim Ragaert UGent
(2017) Proceedings of Eksig 2017.

More information

https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/design-from-recycling/

Type of funding and duration

VLAIO-TETRA, 2015-2017

Contact

Coordinator: Prof. Kim Ragaert
Researcher: Sara Hubo