Waste = Food!

Recycling has become more and more popular through recent years. However, the focus has been mainly on downcycling and it's time to make a shift more toward upcycling. Upcycling means creating a product that is worth as much or more than the original product. Designing products that allow upcycling should be is key. We need to understand that waste = food.

In the Cradle to Cradle video, they discuss how they set out to find a safe way to dye. In the end they succeeded, which allowed for their left over materials to be recycled and used for mulch for gardening. The product was just as useful and beneficial in it's second life as the first. In the article Cradle to Cradle, by McDonough and Braungart, it discusses the two type of metabolism, biological and technical. A biological nutrient is a product that is created to return to the biological cycle, meaning consumed by animals and microorganisms in the soil. The product goes back into the environment.

My idea is to make shoe boxes made from polylactic acid, potato and other vital nutrients. This would create more of a plastic like box, but much stronger, instead of cardboard. The plastic is not only stronger but more flexible so it doesn't snap or crack like normal plastic. It is 100% biodegradable and can be used as gardening soil once broken down. Most shoe boxes just go to waste because there is not much use for them after you buy the shoes. This shoe box with come of great use after the shoes are out. Once out in the right environment the shoebox will compost rapidly. The consumer themselves can use it
for their own garden. Or they can take it to a recycling bin that will be in most shoes stores which will ensure the products get their proper use for their second life. Another benefit to this shoe box is the material is less expensive than plastic so the overall production would cost less also. The waste of this product in coming back around in it's second life to create food for the environment.