Material Sense Lab initiated ‘Lasting Leather Lab’, a research project in which a design team searched for ways to develop scrap leather into circular products. The team consisted of Bureau Baggerman, Studio Simone Post, Material Sense and LCA expert Natascha van der Velden (TU Delft). The leather scraps they worked with were generated came from one of the largest automotive interior companies in Europe, which processes 30.000 hides per day. Due to the fact that every hide is different and has natural imperfections which are considered defects, around 40% every hide is lost as scrap. The leftover leather comes in different qualities, colours and finishes, shapes and sizes, making it difficult to find a suitable purpose for it. The project was funded by a grant from Stichting Cultuur Eindhoven.
Leather is essentially a by-product from bio-industry. It it starts out as a leftover at the slaughterhouse, but by the process of tanning is turned into long lasting high-quality material. Much of this beautiful natural material ends up as cutting waste, because only the flawless pieces are used. There are many issues to be addressed in this process, but for the scope of this project the focus was on saving the scraps from the incinerator and finding a circular application for them.
Leather is essentially a by-product from bio-industry. It it starts out as a leftover at the slaughterhouse, but by the process of tanning is turned into long lasting high-quality material. Much of this beautiful natural material ends up as cutting waste, because only the flawless pieces are used. There are many issues to be addressed in this process, but for the scope of this project the focus was on saving the scraps from the incinerator and finding a circular application for them.
Bureau Baggerman aimed to combine leather waste with other organic waste streams, in order to create bio-composites. Before plastics from crude oil were developed, there was a precursor made from milk, known as Galalith, Erinoid or Casolith. When milk is unsuitable for consumption, casein can be derived from it and used to create hard plastic. These experiments show shredded leather combined with casein, forming the all cow-based ‘bioplastic’ Bovinoid. On the one hand it shows the potential of a great material which is now being wasted and could be reused sustainably. On the other hand it raises questions about the use of animals as a resource on a mass scale.
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Currently this project is being further developed in collaboration with material- and polymer technology specialists from Delft University of Technology and Paques, a sustainable waste and energy company. A bioplastic derived from bacteria that feed on agro-waste, is fortified with leather fibers to create a totally new and reusable composite material.