From container to textile
An age old way of making textiles is by unwinding the cocoons of silkworms and spinning the filaments into yarns. Not all caterpillars make cocoons out of filaments. Some make a hard shell when they pupate, called a chrysalis. Plastic packaging material could be seen as artificial cocoons, which we harvested in this project to be transformed into yarn and textile.
Material designer Jessica den Hartog and I have united in our fascination for transforming waste into valuable resources through research and experiment. We work with excess material and try to discover its potential. We find hidden possibilities within the material’s apparent limitations, and demonstrate how waste can be a resource.
In the Netherlands only 59% of the 25kg of plastic waste generated p.p.p.y. is recycled. Plastics like PET and PP are increasingly recycled for high-grade applications but HDPE is mostly down-cycled. Project Chrysalis develops recycled yarns for closed-loop textile products out of HDPE sourced from household waste. Post-consumer HDPE mostly comes from packaging and can have any color. This color mix results in grey pellets after processing at the recycling plant.
Not only do we want to create a useful long-lasting application for plastic waste which would otherwise be down-cycled or incinerated, we want to shed light on the absurdity of using virgin plastic when a reused alternative is available. We collaborate with industry parties to understand and change the system from within. We want to set a good design example that shows the beauty, quality and value of waste and to inspire responsible use of recycled plastics.
In developing our yarn, we consider the product in which it could be applied, its production, use, and end of life scenario. For example: we create monofilament yarns rather than fibre based yans to prevent microplastics and develop a yarn specifically for industrial knitting processes for their low-waste production possibilities. By designing prototypes that spark the imagination, we want to show ‘unattractive’ grey HDPE waste in a new light.
This research is made possible by the Dutch Creative Industry Fund and done in collaboration with Aachen Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM).
In the Netherlands only 59% of the 25kg of plastic waste generated p.p.p.y. is recycled. Plastics like PET and PP are increasingly recycled for high-grade applications but HDPE is mostly down-cycled. Project Chrysalis develops recycled yarns for closed-loop textile products out of HDPE sourced from household waste. Post-consumer HDPE mostly comes from packaging and can have any color. This color mix results in grey pellets after processing at the recycling plant.
Not only do we want to create a useful long-lasting application for plastic waste which would otherwise be down-cycled or incinerated, we want to shed light on the absurdity of using virgin plastic when a reused alternative is available. We collaborate with industry parties to understand and change the system from within. We want to set a good design example that shows the beauty, quality and value of waste and to inspire responsible use of recycled plastics.
In developing our yarn, we consider the product in which it could be applied, its production, use, and end of life scenario. For example: we create monofilament yarns rather than fibre based yans to prevent microplastics and develop a yarn specifically for industrial knitting processes for their low-waste production possibilities. By designing prototypes that spark the imagination, we want to show ‘unattractive’ grey HDPE waste in a new light.
This research is made possible by the Dutch Creative Industry Fund and done in collaboration with Aachen Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM).