Due to the corona crisis, globalisation is coming under discussion. With the virus spreading around the world, global supply chains stopped, companies can’t get important parts and medical equipment is lacking everywhere. What does this mean for the future of production? Should we decrease the impact of globalisation and switch to a model with local production?…
As many of you liked the article on biological polymers that can lead to circular manufacturing models, I will dive deeper into this topic, explaining how a transition to biological polymers could be achieved. So far we have learned that the most abundant organic biopolymers like cellulose and chitin can be used to produce very strong…
Nature’s simple palette results in products far more advanced than those produced by human industrial science. Seashells that are twice as tough as science’s best ceramics. Spiders can spin silk that is stronger than steel yet light enough to float on the wind. Nature suggests that the potential for inventive uses of easily recycled materials is…
In an previous article we have seen that nature uses simple basic components but fits them so skillfully together, that quality materials result. Its above all design that makes intelligent materials out of basic ones. We have described how we can use 3d printing and generative design technology with simple materials to create similar complex structures…
In the first part of the Circular Economy model series it was explained how nature is using simple materials and puts them skillfully together, so that quality materials and objects result that are easy to recycle. Above all nature achieves this through design and its simple choice of materials. So far we humans were limited when…
The circular concept is defined by principles that design out of waste and keep materials and products in use as well as regenerating natural systems. It replaces the end-of-life concept with restoration, shifts towards the use of renewable energy, eliminates the use of toxic chemicals and aims for the elimination of waste through the superior design…
The problems we have with our environment are obvious. You just have to open the newspaper to see everyday new shocking pictures and information about climate change and its consequences. Manufacturing and the way how we produce and use things are a huge part of the problem. Global manufacturing consumes about 54 % of the world’s…
Plastics and their byproducts are littering our cities, oceans, and waterways, and contributing to health problems in humans and animals. 70 % of the deep sea fish have eaten plastic and 55 % of fish species were even found with microplastics in their body. But as the number of uses rises, so does the demand for…
One of the main reasons why bioplastics have not been adopted more yet, is that often they can’t compete on price with fossilbased materials (at least this goes for the traditional manufacturing technologies). That means they need to offer other benefits, let’s have a look into these benefits. There are two major advantages of biobased plastic…
There are many misconceptions and myths when it comes to Bioplastics. One example for such a misconception is that bioplastics are considered to be always compostable and can’t be used for engineering applications. However this is not true. Let us have a closer look and see what bioplastics are. According to European Bioplastics, a plastic material…