There are numerous strategies to use (re-use) of straw, hay, leaves,
etc. All traditional cultures are saturated with these technologies.
As for contemporary ones I remember that recently in the UK was
successfully launched technology of obtaining paper from straw
(instead of cutting trees!).
Good luck,
Nikolay Bogatyrev
Quoting Samuel Bautista Lazo <[log in to unmask]>:
> Dear all, I would appreciate your wise advice.
>
> I'm a 23 year old PhD student, I just joined the University of
> Liverpool to do Research in
> Design for Sustainability.
>
> I really want to do something meaningful with my life, my time and
> energy, that's why I
> ended up doing research in Design for Sustainability.
>
> In my dreams I would like to go even a step further to design and
> manufacture products
> that heal the environment, I like calling this "Grow-ability"
> (Growing more of the life
> support systems) mimicking the tree that when it grows it is good,
> it sequesters carbon,
> it creates oxygen, provides habitat to hundreds of species, and so
> on and so forth, but
> HOW DO I GET TO THE SPECIFICS? HOW COULD BIOMIMETICS HELP ACHIEVE GROW-
> ABILITY?
>
> From my first survey of the literature I sense that most of the
> efforts in Biomimetics are
> channeled to the design of functionality in products and that there
> is less effort put into
> biomimetics applied to eco-design. Is this picture true?
>
>
> My Idea:
>
> I've been thinking that we may be able to design more sustainable
> products if we can use
> organic "waste" (like fallen leafs, mowed grass from city parks or
> fodder from farming
> operations) and transform their fibers into carpets for example, or
> may be clothing. Is
> this technically possible to do while achieving the level of
> functionality of conventional
> products? Could we design a sustainable manufacturing process that
> mimics nature to
> create such type of products?
>
> Thank you very much!
> Samuel
>
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