Bio-based material design research

Medium: Agar, glycerol, eggshells, used coffee grounds, onion peels, lemongrass, orange peels, lime peels, almond shells, macadamia shells, coconut residue, tea leaves, salacca peels/seeds, banana peels, roselle, ginger peels, avocado peels, charcoal, mangosteen peels

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Varying dimensions

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My bioplastic journey has started at the same time with Bangkok locked down. As much as the rise of COVID cases, the amount of single-use plastic has also significantly increased due to the change in people's lifestyles.

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‘Plastic Twins’ explores an alternative recycling process for both single-used plastic and domestic food waste. Together, they can be used to create a family of bioplastic containers through a very simple process as easy as cooking a meal. The ingredients are Agar, Glycerol, water, and any food waste that is already dried and crushed. In this recipe, I mostly use eggshells and coffee grounds collected from my own kitchen and the restaurants nearby as main ingredients while adding various other wastes to compliment the texture and colour. Plastic water bottles and take-away containers were used as the mould to pour the mix in after it was heated and well-mixed on the stove. With their variety in shapes, they can be combined in many ways to create different forms of objects which, in this series, then be used as plant pots.

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As home to the plants, ‘Plastic Twins’ aims to create a domestic circular ecosystem where food waste can be turned into objects hosting the plants that will soon produce food again. (if I switch from growing cactus to lettuce!). - and many more possibilities.