After 6 weeks of exploration, I finally decided on what to do for my thesis project. Last year, I took a Behavior class taught by Haakon Faste and I had a idea of re-utilizing a wasted tampon wrapper and turn it into a finger wrapper. Then I teamed up with Natalia and Sherrie and attended Impact Award of 2019 which was focus on biodegradable material for the wrapper. For the thesis, I would like to take on what we left of last semester and bring it further by exploring the usability of Kombucha scoby.
DURATION
TEAMmates
Brief
According to Project Drawdown, "The linear and wasteful ways in which humans partner with the materials that make up the economy result in significant greenhouse gas emissions throughout the life cycle of the products that meet our daily needs." In my thesis project, I'm aiming to taggle the life cycle of a tampon, and trying to optimize and reduce it's environment impact by applying biodegradable material. For my final show, I will showcase both my research and final product. My research will be present as interactive information sharing display.
Proposal
The purpose of our project is to alleviate the wastage of tampon packaging and said contingent toilet paper waste produced. It is said that Americans spend $6 billion on toilet paper annually, more than people in any other country in the world. Every year, it takes 1.7 trillion liters (437 billion gallons) of water, 253,000 tons of bleach, and 15 million trees to feed America’s toilet paper habit. According to the Natural Resource Defense Council, toilet paper production alone has caused 15% of deforestation on our planet. By creating a way for women to safely and cleanly dispose of used tampons with the packaging, we can significantly reduce wastage produced through this process.
Early Exploration
rapid prototype on usability testing
Final product showcase from last semester 2019 Spring
Last semester, with the help from my friend Nathalia and Sherrie, I was able to do some product usability testing as well as material exploration. At the end of 2019 Spring semester, we were focusing on Bamboo Fiber as the material for our product. However, there is still some constraints on bamboo fiber, California doesn't grow Bamboo, which is hard to localize the entire production process. That means I would need to outreach to factory who product bamboo fiber outside of the states and then ship the product back to California which increase the transportation times thus increase greenhouse gas emission.
In order to localise the production process, I have to find a new material that is easy to produce while have low impact on our environment. (Unfortunately my previous teammates, Nathalia and Sherrie, wouldn't able to participate in this new approach adventure due to their busy schedule in school.) After one month of research, I found out a material called Vegan Leather made of Kombucha which is very organic and low cost. I perceive this as the new opportunities for this Tampon Project and would like to invest more time into this material as my thesis project.
What is Vegan Leather--Kombucha Scoby
Kombucha is a fermented, slightly alcoholic, lightly effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink commonly intended as a functional beverage for its supposed health benefits. (Wikipedia)
Scoby stand for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast which is the outcome of Kombucha fermentation process. After dehydrating the scoby, it become a leather like material. Down below is a video that introducing how to turn scoby into leather.
Work in Process
Brewing tea for making Kombucha
Add sugar in black tea and put it a container
Two weeks of fermentation---formed socby
Dehydrated scoby--vegan wrapper
Two weeks after dehyrinding process
Final result of my first vegan wrapper
Issue
The issue with this vegan wrapper is it's too smelly. Since it is the outcome of a fermented drink, it has the vinegary smell and doesn't seems to dissipate after two weeks of explorsue in open air. It will be a big issue since I working with woman hygiene product, so my first step will be figure out how to eliminate the smell from this vegan wrapper.
Next Step
Eliminate the vinegary smell
Exam how long it will take to degrade in a natural environment
