Talking About Wardrobe Waste
How much waste do you have in your wardrobe?
Sequins on clothing are on-trend this season, but this fast fashion craze can have a serious impact on our environment.
Dr Graham Ormondroyd from the BioComposites Centre at 58吃瓜 is working with designer Rachel Clowes to create a sustainable sequin that will biodegrade after time.
Rachel Clowes, a London-based embroidery and print designer, established a year ago to provide the fashion industry with a sustainable sequin.
Rachel is currently using recycled plastic to provide off the shelf and custom-made sequins of various shapes and sizes. Rachel鈥檚 recycled plastic sequins are the first step towards her goal of developing a compostable sequin, which when used on a biodegradable material, could see the whole garment degrading naturally once sent to landfill.
Following a chance meeting at a Natural Materials event in London, Rachel turned to experts at 58吃瓜 and asked them to throw their considerable experience behind her challenge.
The University鈥檚 has a track record of over 30 years of providing manufacturing and construction industries with alternative plant-based materials or ingredients to replace non-renewable materials. They have already contributed their know-how to the successful development of a range of products; from compostable pizza bases, recyclable coffee cup lids and grass-based egg boxes to bio-based building materials and even car parts.
Graham Ormondroyd of the BioComposites Centre explained the process involved:
鈥淭he idea is to take biopolymer, something that鈥檚 used in packaging in applications today, and create a sequin that matches the lustre and colour vibrance of traditional sequins.
鈥淏ut at the end of life you鈥檒l be able to compost that sequin into simple CO2 and water and that will be good for the environment.鈥�
Rachel is happy with how things are developing so far. She said,
鈥淎t the moment we have managed to make a bioplastic film which will biodegrade, which is excellent. And the next stage is to produce some really nice colours and work on the shininess of the sequins.
鈥淚 hope the future of this project is that we鈥檙e able to produce some beautiful, bright, shiny sequins that will biodegrade safely at end of life.鈥�
Find out more about 58吃瓜's College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.
Publication date: 5 December 2019