#fruitleather rotterdam

Fruitleather Rotterdam

plastic has always been seen as the largest waste pollution that threatens the earth. not only plastic, but every material that is considered "not sustainable" is actually a threat to future well beings. however, hugo de boon, founder of fruitleather rotterdam, sees it on the contrary. for de boon, plastic is a very sustainable and durable material as it stays over a long time and it is lightweight. the thought has come followed by his family background and his analysis of material life cycles. as when one comes to the notion of ‘sustainable material’, later on, one can also question durability. and when one talks about the notion of ‘non-sustainable material’, perhaps it is the system and collective effort that we need to think about and build? also read: hugo de boon of fruitleather rotterdam talks alleviating fruit waste problem on #storyofdesign emma cogné on textiles that connects living beings to matter and objects #storyofdesign going circular economy with plastic waste: sebastian sajoux of arqlite #storyofdesign "plastic is a durable material. there's a lot of plastic we can recycle. the only problem with plastic is the way that we throw them away. we are the ones who throw them into the ocean, and we are the one who take them for granted. if we're able to put into a recycling process, then plastic should also be a very sustainable product.” remember that being sustainable is still a choice. material lifecycle"me and my colleague (koen meerkerk) have done lifecycle analysis for our fruit material as well. for instance, let's say that one piece of traditional material lasts for five years, and our material lasts for one year. then, in theory, our material is as non-sustainable as real leather because we need to produce new leather every year. ""for me, sustainable means to also be durable. so there should be a certain aspect where your material stays good, and right now is where the polyurethane is used (in our material). otherwise, they have to wait a long time if they wish for a better solution. so it's about to find the perfect balance between what the consumers want and what you can produce. and try to find the midway between two demands.” a collective effort, to set the system better exposure and engagement is the key "we're lucky that we have had a lot of attention to our brand and our material from the beginning. when we started this project, we got an assignment from school for a final year exam, and the goal was to make a story, a product, or a concept to get as much exposure as possible. the assignment will be successful if it gets into the deutsch television program." "when we were spreading extra awareness of the product, we got a lot of attention from the newspaper, tv, radio, and so on. from there, we started getting instant requests from super high, well-established global fashion brands, and a lot of car companies (where they want it for the interiors), and a large interest from sneaker brands as well. right now we produce small accessories, from wallet to phone cases.""we've already had luxury bags being made in the past; we have also made lampshade, which in our opinion was the easiest product to accomplish because we did not have to add polyester backing or polyurethane coating. things like sneakers are more difficult to achieve as it requires more durable coating; this is where we can't use a natural one." "we even earned the interest from actor mark rufallo, where he posted on his facebook page of what we were making (a couple of years ago), and we got many likes and shares. once the ball started rolling, we got so motivated by the potential that everyone else said the concept had. we were still students at the time this happened, but the enthusiasm from the outside world was what made us believe that it is a good idea to turn into a business." about mindsets"to change someone's mindset is always super difficult. with all these new innovative things, you need to convince and show people that there's also money to be made within this business. creating a sustainable product is something you have to do now. governments are forcing companies to become more sustainable; so instead of going against the flow, you can instead go with the flow and really look at the problems to be solved. now is the moment you can jump on that train since it is very stimulated to make more sustainable choices as a company." courtesy of the design story interview with hugo de boon of fruitealther rotterdam on may 2020 | photo source: unsplash, bluecity.nl https://bit.ly/3fuXrAK

the concern of fruit waste is not purely in their hands. consumer preference and standards are still on the list of things waiting to be solved. so is giving them further comprehension of how fruitleather alleviates fruit waste and reduces the use of animal skins for leather. knowing the fact that most of us still lack awareness of how to use sustainable material for product outcomes, fruitleather rotterdam, in continuation of the previous article, talks about the benefit of using this vegan leather-like material. a clean process and utilizing resources that are left behind are some of the benefits. "we disagree with having exotic animals being slaughtered just for their hides. i think it is absurd to keep a crocodile inside a small tank (as an example) for a company to make a fancy bag out of it." also read: hugo de boon of fruitleather rotterdam talks alleviating fruit waste problem on #storyofdesign emma cogné on textiles that connects living beings to matter and objects #storyofdesign going circular economy with plastic waste: sebastian sajoux of arqlite #storyofdesign "here (in europe) we don't have that many leather tannerie and the tanneries here are pretty well maintained, there's water filtration, although they are still using chemicals to get rid of the excess skin on the hides. however, in countries like india, the water that is used in tanneries, with the acids and chemicals used for processing, are let to stream to the river. so in a place where water from the river is still very much needed for washing clothes and washing one’s body, even to have kids playing in the river in these polluted water, it can be extremely harmful and dangerous. so it is not only a problem for the animals, but it is a problem for us humans as well." fruitleather; the clean processwe’re not growing resources to use, but we only use resources that are left behind."our process, compared to that of traditional leather, is a lot cleaner and a lot easier. first, because we don't need a cow or any other type of animal - we don't have to wait for certain years for the animal to be fully grown and slaughtered for certain hides. what we need is just fruits; which are grown naturally and abundantly everywhere; and even better, we use the waste." "within our process, we don't make raw material and we don't use any chemical compounds, but we just use the entire fruit. but since we also need to make the material available for everyone, we have to take precautions on how the material will be used, and make sure that it stays good, and strong over time. so right now, for the sheet that we sell, we still add polyester backing, which is not the most sustainable solution at the moment. it is more sustainable than traditional leather and it makes it strong enough to put less risk or damage claim when purchased. another process that we do is adding a polyurethane coating for certain products, not all of the products.""what we try to do is we want to be able to provide for larger orders and for specific finishings for clients. if they say they don't want polyester backing because it's not sustainable enough, we can add other backing upon request, such as cork, cotton, or even unbleached-cotton for example. or if they want the material to be used only indoors, we don't have to add the polyurethane coating. so we try to make our materials in such a way to meet exactly what the customer desires, but also keeping in mind that we help find the more sustainable solution for the application they want to use." being situated in bluecity - a sustainability hub in rotterdam that only houses companies with sustainable ideas and sustainable startups - gives them a helpful support system and a room to process and reprocess all the waste from production there to boost a zero-waste economy vision. de boon explained that the waste they produced (in the form of juice) is useful for another company in the building that makes beer out of it. so bluecity is a whole circular economy in itself. upcycling fruits"we are not circular at the moment. but technically we are on the upcycling step within the fruit waste industry, although we're still linear right now. we are currently looking at how to make our material biodegradable, so even if you have a linear product, it will not pile up in landfill anymore. it's possible to make a biodegradable material because the raw material itself is fully made from natural materials. to make our process circular, we have to figure out the entire production process - it is something we will definitely look at in our future agenda."courtesy of the design story interview with hugo de boon of fruileather rotterdam on may 2020 https://bit.ly/2WBBMAg