Urban Waste & Circular Design

YESTERDAY’S WASTE, TOMORROW’S HERITAGE SPENT COFFEE GROUNDS AS CIRCULAR BUILDING MATERIAL

ARCH. PAYAM NOROUZI PROF. INGRID PAOLETTI POLITECNICO DI MILANO

To Earth and Its Boundless Openness

Acknowledgement I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Ingrid Paoletti, and her warm welcome and support to pave the way together for this inspiring journey. Without her advice and comments, the research and design would not have been possible.

In the end, I would like to thank everyone, in particular my family with their entire alternative support, who has been by my side throughout the thesis work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS ICONOGRAPHY ABSTRACT I

URBAN WASTE

02

FOOD INDUSTRY FOOD WASTE MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

II

CIRCULAR CITY

16

HUMAN CONSUMPTION BUILDING CONSTRUCTION GLOBAL WARMING

III

COFFEE, A FRESH CLIENT

30

MAPPING COFFEE COFFEE BY-PRODUCTS SPENT COFFEE GROUNDS DESIGN PROTOTYPES

IV

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN NATURAL BINDING AGENTS DESGIN MATERIALS TECHNIQUES

66

ICONOGRAPHY

ECO-FRIENDLY

SYNTHETIC

BIODEGRADABLE

IMPERISHABLE

WATER-REPELLENT

PERMEABLE

FIRE PROOF

FLAMMABLE

RENEWABLE

NON-RENEWABLE

ABSTRACT

The initial concept comes into being with taking an in-depth look into the rich Italian coffee culture of daily coffee drinking habit. Based on statistics, around six million tons of Spent Coffee Grounds (SCG), what’s leftover when a coffee bean is grounded and discarded, taking into landfills around the world every year. In Italy according to Lavazza data, in 2016 coffee consumers were estimated at around 87% of the total population.

This research showed that 87% of consumers have their coffee at home, whereas 73% also drinking coffee out of home. In detail, the Italian per capita coffee consumption reaching 5.8 kg in 2016 which is higher than average coffee consumption in Europe and higher than the per capita consumption in the United Kingdom. Following the past few years, in some industrialized countries such as Australia and United Kingdom researchers have worked progressively on the spent coffee grounds with distinctive applications to reduce coffee waste with utilizing new ways of recycling.

What we need to claim for is to discover novel ways to change our mindset of waste and exploring possible design solutions through a circular economy lens. Offering design in combination with entrepreneurship is a way to add value without using more natural resources and materials.

Adding value without using more of raw materials is a unique way to satisfy people’s needs without using more resources, thus lowering the overall impacts on the environment. Recycling and up-cycling coffee leftover would create a constant market and growing demands for manufacturers in that not only they would make profits by the ongoing coffee trades, but also taking coffee leftover back to the manufacturing cycle again which would cost approximately free and out of charge. As a matter of time, instead of leaving coffee leftover in trash bins and landfills we will be able to bring used coffee back and store it properly.

To sum up, regarding the ongoing coffee consumption in parallel with global environmental crisis and waste management we need to acquire the capability of a green ways to transform spent coffee grounds to biomaterials by different applications into either architectural technology or food industry and furniture design markets. These all would center around entrepreneurship and benefit for both sides of the game, users and manufacturers.

Keywords: Circular Economy, Coffee, Urban Waste, Global Warming, Entrepreneurship

Chapter I

URBAN WASTE

2

Figure 1.1.

We, What a Wasteful Mankind!

Note. Only less than 2% of all valuable nutrients in food by-products together with human waste generated in cities across the globe - not including manure - is being valorised safely and productively. Wastefully, all these organic materials are normally destined to end up in landfills, incinerators or, even worse, to be left in open dumps and being released untreated, where they pose health hazards and poor sanitation conditions to nearby dwellers, animals and the surrounding environment (World Bank Group, 2018).

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N

obody wonders where, each day, they carry their load of refuse. Outside the city, surely; but each year the city expands, and the street cleaners have to fall farther back. The bulk of the outflow increases and the piles rise higher, become stratified, extending over a wider perimeter.

– Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities Food, clothing, and shelter traditionally known as basic and primary needs of humankind to live, to survive, and to evolve on Earth. These three fundamental needs after thousand centuries of developing and expanding on lands or crossing oceans, still remains as crucial as to all of inhabitants of the earth, obviously with a diverse distinction available today. From early hunting-gathering communities dwelling in the caves to civilized humankinds enjoying of modern cities, all together have been demanding voraciously for exploiting of natural and virgin resources on Earth not only to overcome the boundaries and limits set either by natural disasters or man-made ones, but also to fulfill their ambitions and wills toward life.

In today’s world, the three mentioned fundamental human needs have risen far beyond the scope that early mankind was seeking for. Mankind forcefully could push beyond the boundaries digging deeper and deeper of natural and non-renewable resources. Since ancient times, global population has been rapidly growing and human beings have been urbanizing and acquiring more wealth and experience with alternative impacts, either positive or negative, on living patterns, ecosystem, landscape, and the next human generations. Furthermore, this phenomenon of growing human population had to be centered around one of those essential needs which is already mentioned, food. Food, followed by any sort of production and processing being evolved during the history of mankind, has played an inevitable key role over the shaping of human capital.

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In the same way, the crucial reliance of human race on food have undergone unpleasant and dreadful times caused by natural catastrophes which in turn have killed millions of people across the globe. Famine, flood, drought, and plague are some examples to historically prove the tenuous link between human race and food in every geographical regions of the world.

Even more drastically, food can rise to such a central key point under an unfair consequence of national political dimensions to be misused as a forceful tool, literally sort of murdering machine, to claim the lives of thousands innocent people. An example stands for the Holodomor, internationally known as Ukrainian famine, as occurred during 193233 under the commands of Joesph Stalin, a dictator who wanted to replace Ukraine’s small farms with state-run collective farms, which in the end led to the death of millions of Ukrainian peasants and workers.

As it is expected, neither the Ukrainian famine nor the broader Soviet famine were ever officially reported by the USSR. When it comes to death tolls, at least 5 million people perished of severe starvation all across the Soviet Union. Among them were nearly 4 million Ukrainians who died not because of crop failure, but they had been deliberately deprived of food to survive (The Atlantic, 2017).

Figure 1.2.

Food Loss and Waste Note. The High Level Panel of Experts (2014), defines the Food loss and waste (FLW) as a decrease, at all stages of the food chain from harvest to consumption in mass, of food that was originally intended for human consumption, regardless of the cause.

Based on statistics, almost one-third of food production for the human consumption, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year, is either lost or wasted globally (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2011).

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The worldwide agricultural and food systems are currently not correspondent with the international expectations toward green management. Beyond declines and rises and despite a global increase in food availability, the number of people suffering from hunger has not significantly changed during the last 40 years. At the same time, there are growing concerns around the political dimensions of food systems, including concentration in the retail sectors and lack of transparency in the governance, and issues about the control over natural resources, such as land, water, energy and genetic resources (The High Level Panel of Experts for Food Security and Nutrition, 2019).

More strangely, criminal organizations have acquired benefits over the trafficking garbages for a pretty long time. An extreme example comes with an area in north of Naples, known as “Land of Poison”.

In 1997, Carmine Schiavone, one of the heads of the Casalesi Mafia clan who captured by police officers and headed to the Italian legal court, talked about millions tonnes of waste, including nuclear wastes, that were taken to dump sites inside the country or carried by trucks to Germany.

Figure 1.3.

Man-made Mass Starvation, Yemen Note. The Saudi-led military coalition with endless army supply of well-industrialized democratic governments has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in the heyday of digital media and smart life. Everyday Yemen is hit by British bombs, dropped by British fighters that are flown by British-trained pilots and maintained and prepared inside Saudi Arabia by thousands of British contractors. Almost a decade-long war in Yemen, led to the great man-made famine untill today that has caused tens of thousands of indefensible victims suffering from malnutrition and food shortage (The Guardian, 2019).

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The given example from Italy shares enough of the black market through the illegal waste disposal that has played outrageously a powerful economic role, either in regional or international scale, over the long period of time. In detail, the environmental organization Legambiente states that the ongoing illegal business of waste earned over 16 billion Euro just in 2012 from disposal and trafficking of more than 11.6 million tonnes of waste materials (Spiegel, 2014).

Today, in total one-third of the food produced for human consumption is either lost or wasted (HLPE, 2019), while millions people, in particular toddlers, infants, and young girls, all together about 820 million are suffering from the malnutrition and starvation all around the world. To elaborate, Multiple forms of malnutrition are evident in many countries like poor access to food, its utilization and stability all together contributes to undernutrition as well as overweight and obesity (FAO et al, 2018).

Figure 1.4.

The Hidden Business under the Garbages of Italy Note. More than 100,000 tonnes of Italian trash were shipped to eastern Germany in order to save a waste treatment plant from bankruptcy. The investigation came through 150,000 tonnes of solid waste generated in Italy, but transported to Germany in trains, that should never have allowed to cross the Alps. The image demonstrates the piles of plastic bags filled with garbage in the Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples. Every day tonnes of waste being added on top of each other due to the mismanagement over the solid waste in this ancient Roman city (Spiegel, 2010).

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Globally around one-third of food production is lost or wasted along the food chain, from the very early phase of production to the last, consumption.

Moreover, by bringing up the problems that already disscussed, we will be able to percieve the close correlation between climate change, global warming and food. FAO et al. (2018) highlights the point:

“

Climate variability and extremes are a key driver behind the recent rises in global hunger and one of the leading causes of severe food crises. The changing nature of climate variability and extremes is negatively affecting all dimensions of food security (food availability, access, utilization and stability), as well as reinforcing other underlying causes of malnutrition related to childcare and feeding, health services and environmental health. The risk of food insecurity and malnutrition is greater nowadays because livelihoods and livelihood assets, especially of the poor, are more exposed and vulnerable to changing climate variability and extremes.

To sum up, from the begining of plantation to the end portion in consumption, a holistic sustainable food system is required to ensure adequate food production and reduce losses and waste, while safeguarding human race, nature and environmental health, political stability and higher quality of life with less hazardous impacts. (HLPE, 2019). When it comes to cities and urban dwellers, today they own the highest number of contribution toward energy consumption as well as food waste generation.

Necessarily, food markets, restaurants, caterings, educational institutions, hotels, etc. in food sector have a major influence on what we eat everyday.

From early morning cereals to late night takeaway, a great proportion of food eaten nowadays, particularly in urban zones, to some many extent comes through these organisations.

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Figure 1.5.

Annual Municipal Solid Waste Generation (kg/capita/day) Note. Based on data obtained from The World Bank, mankind globally generates 0.74 kilogram of waste per capita per day on average rate. In terms of national waste generation, it fluctuates widely from 0.11 to 4.54 kilograms per capita per day. The volumes of waste generation are generally associated with income levels and the urban development rates of every country. In 2016, about 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste were generated and this number is expected to grow to 3.40 billion tonnes by 2050. More importantly, food and green waste stands for more than 50% of waste in low-income and middle-income countries. At the same time, in high-income countries the amount of organic waste is about 32 percent on average. (World Bank Group, 2018)

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Chapter II

CIRCULAR CITY

16

H

ow can we build the cities of tomorrow with the waste of today?

– Kasper Guldager Jensen, Founder GXN It has not been for a long time that man-kind in today’s life, proudly named as urbanized humans, is being faced either intentionally or haphazardly with terms and prompts popping up on LED screens, TVs, and smart phones full of commercials and advertisements of food delivery, fashion industry, online shopping. Seems trendy at the current stage of man-kinds globalization to talk and discover more of digitalization followed by smart urban life, remote working, virtual dating, distance-mode learning, etc.

Digital environments, inspired by telecommunication revolution and the commodification of bits, has profoundly dominated over the materialized form.

William J. Mitchell highly articulates in his book titled “City of Bits” the new context of architecture and urbanism in the age of digital information:

“

Why should we care about this new kind of architectural and urban design issue? It matters because the emerging civic structures and spatial arrangements of the digital era will profoundly affect our access to economic opportunities and public services, the character and content of public discourse, the forms of cultural activity, the enaction of power, and the experiences that give shape and texture to our daily routines. Massive and unstoppable changes are under way, but we are not passive subjects powerless to shape our fates. If we understand what is happening, and if we can conceive and explore alternative futures, we can find opportunities to intervene, sometimes to resist, to organize, to legislate, to plan, and to design.

Inescapably, the fast-paced evolution of information and telecommunication technologies during the last few decades have not been comparable to the rest of human-centered developments in the realm of engineering science and innovation. In the same way, the intervention of digital tools into daily humans’ life is not similar in terms of both quantity and quality to any other kinds of adaptations done willingly by man-kind since the rise of modernity.

The unstoppable and high-rate level of innovations in the fields of computer science, electronic and telecommunication engineering has led to the growing digital markets and increasing demands which has entirely ended up with short life-span of digital goods as they are not able to keep pace and correspond to the extensive growth of digital innovation. The ongoing digital phenomena has pushed mankind once again into an active consuming behavior which seems like having not sufficient control to slow down.

Similarly but even more critically, what has been ignored like the previous experiences during the industrial revolution, modernity movement, mass production, etc. is undoubtedly the immense reliance on natural and virgin resources in parallel with the extreme generation of waste particularly in urban zones and urban peripheries.

Recently, a published article by United Nations Environment Programme (2018), talks about millions tonnes of E-waste generated annually in European Union which are taken to open electronic dump sites and landfills in Africa and making e-waste one of the top environmental crisis of the 21st century.

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In 2018, the buildings and construction industry accounted for 36% of global energy consumption and 39% of CO2 emissions, 11% of that resulted from manufacturing building materials such as steel, cement and glass.

According to the lastest report published by United Nation (2019), the world’s population is expected to increase by 2 billion persons, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050, in the next 30 years. Therefore, we can easily imagine the vast amount of waste generated by the increasing number of population on Earth. What will be the contribution of 21th century digital human being to the current flow of waste?

While worldwide trade of commodities, agro-food industries, building and construction sectors are obessesed with the exsessive manipulation of natural resources, we are facing with the rising amount of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, elevated emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases in cities, climate changing and shortage of non-renewable energies happening all around the globe.

As Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (2019) indicates that when it comes to building and construction industry, solely stands for the largest share of both global final energy use 36% and energyrelated CO2 emissions 39% in 2018, 11% of which emitted from manufacturing building materials and products such as steel, cement and glass. Simply, compared to the previous years, the final energy demand in buildings in 2018 has increased 1% from 2017, and 7% from 2010.

To sum up, considering all critical parameters and outputs of human’s intervention in the rise of current environemal crisis, we come across with the point that an urgent human-centered solution needs to be taken into action to be able to justify, to some extent, the previous detrimental failures and pernicious activities done on natural habitat, environment, and over the entire planet. In the light of symbiosis, the natural interaction of living species, numbers of scholars and researchers have been able to perceive a novel arrangement and process, so-called Circular Economy, to not only continue the economic growth of human capital, but also to have the minimum negatvie environmental impacts on the planet.

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Figure 2.1.

The Water Cycle Note. The water cycle can be one of the clear examples of circular system in our planet, Earth. The water begins with evaporation from the surface of bare grounds, lands, oceans and forests, then goes up into the atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain or snow part of clouds, and falls again to the surface as precipitation.

The water falling on lands runs into rivers and lakes, groundwater reservoirs, and porous layers of rocks and mountains, and much of it flows back into the oceans, where it will begin once again its timeless journey.

As you might know, approximately 97.5% of the water on Earth is saline and the remaining 2.5% is fresh water which is mainly freezed and stored in either poles or glaciers.

Symbiotic relationship, in every given natural habitat centers around a crucial fact, known as circularity. Circularity not only has been the key principle to govern nature and a circular society, but also has enabled early mankind to overcome the scarcity of resources. People were to build and to develop tools and skills in order to have the optimum utilization of the natural resources available. Both sharing and reuse were a necessity and the norm.

Walter R. Stahel articulates circularity in 2 distinctive forms throughout the history of Earth:

“

NATURE. Water and material cycles are the norm, some unpredictable like weather, others periodic like tidal cycles.

Nature is governed by a self-organised system of virtuous material cycles where organic waste is food and remuneration for others. The labour to do this is provided by trillions of bacteria, insects and other small animals, free of charge and untaxed; natural processes are not subjected to constraints of time, money or culture, nor rules or liability; nature has no master plan, no events are perceived as negative.

MANKIND. A circular society in the sense of exchange has been present throughout the history of mankind.

Individuals created goods and tools from natural resources, such as wood or stone, for their own use and for exchange in a barter economy. Then, craftsmen appeared, using their skills to create goods for others, explore new materials like metals and ceramics and repair broken objects as a service to their owners. This evolution was driven by human desire for a better quality of life and by individual initiatives.

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Figure 2.2.

Land Food Web Note. The food chain, and in a larger scale food web, describes who eats whom in an ecological community.

Every living species, from one-celled microorganism to giant humpback whale, needs food to survive. Each food chain is a fundamental stream of energies and nutrients. For instance, grass produces its own food from sunlight. A rabbit eats vegetations while a wolf hunts the rabbit. When the wolf dies, microorganisms break down its dead body, returning to the soil where it provides nutrients for plants and vegetations. Each of these living species can be a part of multiple food chains. Lastly, all these interconnected and overlapping food chains in a broad ecosystem make up a food web (National Geographic Society, 2011).

The story of circular economy dates back initially to 70s when Walter R. Stahel, trained as an Architect, initiated the concept and has worked tirelessly to the this date, to progress more of what could have been done years earlier to prevent the current state of environmental risks that we are in today.

Furthermore, it is clear today to everyone the contribution of cities in the consumption of natural resources, fossil fuels, non-renewable energies and the generation of either waste or CO2 into the environment. To this date, 75% of natural resource consumption occurs in cities and cities are responsible for the production of 50% of global waste and 60-80% of greenhouse gas emissions. These all stem from the linear economic model of ‘take, make, dispose’ in that circularity has been missed for a long time (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019). While waste prevention is considered as an integral part of optimization over the consumption of materials in the circular industrial economy, waste management has been considered as the final phase in the linear industrial economy of ‘take, make, dispose’ (Stahel, 2019).

To provide an in-depth vision over the critical role of energy consumption in the production of common materials such as cement and steel, it is wothwhile to refer to the early days of 70s when the circular economy was a newly coined term. Back in time, Stahel and Reday-Mulvey (1976), highlighted the impotance of embodied energy of building materials as an output compared to labour force as an input factor; in manufacturing, three quarters of energy is consumed for the production of basic materials like cement and steel, whereas only one quarter for the production of goods such as buildings or cars. On the contrary in the production of the goods, the relation is reverse and three quarters is being used as the labour input. Therefore, the building industry leaves a tremendous challenge behind as most of today’s construction materials require large amounts of energy and resource to be processed and built.

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Figure 2.3.

Aquatic Life Cycle Note. Phytoplankton and algae form the bases of aquatic food webs. They are eaten by primary consumers like small fishes and tiny shrimps. Then, primary consumers are in turn eaten by large-size fishes, small sharks and baleen whales. Top ocean predators include large sharks, dolphins, toothed whales, and large seals. Decomposers like fungi and bacteria completing the food web as turning the organic wastes, either decaying corals or dead predators, into nutrient-rich soil (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2019).

Poor agricultural practices are a significant contributor to the 39 million hectares of soil that are degraded each year globally. Approximately 70% of global freshwater demand is used for agriculture. Cities have a unique opportunity to spark a transformation towards a circular economy for food, given that 80% of all food is expected to be consumed in cities by 2050.

Following the previous discussuion, while having building materials with a siginificant high amount of emboided energies and mainly stemmed from the natural and virgin resources on Earth, in the same time, having cities where the highest number ever of consumption and waste generation occurs, how would it feasible to apply and introduce a circualr design through the flow of waste materials in urban zones in order to substitute Given the massive growth in new construction in economies in transition, and the inefficiencies of existing building stock worldwide, if nothing is done, greenhouse gas emissions from buildings will more than double in the next 20 years. Based on many accounts, we can realize the priority of food in human beings’ everyday life and at the same time we can understand the food and its entire system as an interdisciplinary field that is inextricably intertwined with human culture, economy, nature and unfortunately powers of politics. Moreover, food with its significant cultural background owns the right potentials to be taken into account in today’s world facing with man-made disasters like climate changing, global warming, mass consumption, pollutions and contaminations on every sides of the planet.

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Figure 2.4.

A Circular Society over Waste Note. Circularity is the key principle in governing nature and circular society along the history of Earth. In sense of exchange of goods and tools, a circular society has been present throughout the history of humankind.

Early man lived in a circular society of scarcity and shortage, a non-monetary community driven by necessity, which still exists in many remote lessdeveloped parts of the world (Stahel, 2019).

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Chapter III

COFFEE, A FRESH CLIENT

30

Figure 3.1.

World Coffee Production (in tonnes) Note. In contrast to each crop year, coffee production is set on it’s calendar starting from the first October of every year and ending in September of the coming new year. The world coffee production is crucial sector for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and local people in that 80% of the world’s coffee is produced by small scale growers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Based on statistics, the world production in coffee year 2018/19 was about 169 million bags of 60 kg, which is 5.4% greater than in 2017/18, however this rise in production leads to the lower price in the global coffee market. Brazil stands for the world’s largest production of coffee and Vietnam is the second largest producer and the largest producer of Robusta coffee (International Coffee Organization, 2019).

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Figure 3.2.

Global Coffee Consumption per capita (in kilograms) Note. This map talks about the worldwide coffee consumed annually by each person in a given country.

Finland with 12 kg has the highest per capita consumption of coffee in the world. Subsequently, the rest of Scandinavian nations, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden are having the highest coffee use per capita, however this number doesn’t really stand for the highest coffee consumption in total among European nations due to the low population of Nordic countries. The total import of coffee of Scandinavia is pretty lower than populated countries like Italy, Germany and France as they have millions and millions more inhabitants (World Resources Institute, 2011).

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Figure 3.3.

The Highest Coffee Imports by EU Member States (in tonnes) Note. According to Eurostat data, in 2018, EU member states imported over 3 million tonnes of coffee from abroad. This amount of imported coffee is increased 12% compared to the last 10 years ago. Among the top importing member states, Germany is ranked first with 1.1 million tonnes of import that is equal to 36% of the total coffee imports and Italy in the second place with 587,000 tonnes that counts for 19% of the total EU imports. To add more details In terms of import, most of EU’ coffee comes from Brazil with 29% and Vietnam 25% of total import. Good to know, in 2018, EU coffee consumption is equivalent to around 3.4 kg per inhabitant (EU Eurostat, 2019).

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COST / AVAILABLE MATERIALS

Transportation Costs

Building Materials 0 A.D.

500

1000

1500

2000

Figure 3.4.

The Age of Exploration Note. For several millenia, the building techniques and materials for construction where relatively limited to the available local materials as they were taken from the nature in nearby.

However, since the mid-19th century this norm went to face a big change due to the industrial revolution. So far, technological developments in transportation and material science have expanded the available choices exponentioally to this date (Kieran & Timberlake, 2006).

A

sk materials scientists if they have ever spoken with an architect or contractor about product development. Or ask architects and engineers if they have ever had a conversation about the stuff, the substance, of our buildings with a materials scientist.

The answer will almost certainly be no. What can the materials scientist contribute to the development of new architecture that works toward the integration of information and materials? Why is the establishment of this cross-discipline dialogue so critical now at the beginning of the twenty-first century?

– Kieran & Timberlake, Refabricating Architecture The initial concept comes into being with taking an in-depth look into the rich Italian coffee culture of daily coffee drinking habit. Based on statistics, around six million tons of Spent Coffee Grounds (SCG), what’s leftover when a coffee bean is grounded and discarded, taking into landfills around the world every year. In Italy according to Lavazza data, in 2016 coffee consumers were estimated at around 87% of the total population. This research showed that 87% of consumers have their coffee at home, whereas 73% also drinking coffee out of home. In detail, the Italian per capita coffee consumption reaching 5.8 kg in 2016 which is higher than average coffee consumption in Europe and higher than the per capita consumption in the United Kingdom. Following the past few years, in some industrialized countries such as Australia and United Kingdom researchers have worked progressively on the spent coffee grounds with distinctive applications to reduce coffee waste with utilizing new ways of recycling.

What we need to claim for is to discover novel ways of design to change our mindset of waste by exploring possible design solutions through a circular economy lens. Offering design in combination with entrepreneurship is a way to add value without using more natural resources and materials.

38

Adding value without using more of raw materials is a unique way to satisfy people’s needs without using more resources, thus lowering the overall impacts on the environment. Recycling and up-cycling coffee leftover would create a constant market and growing demands for manufacturers in that not only they would make profits by the ongoing coffee trades, but also taking coffee leftover back to the manufacturing cycle again which would cost approximately free and out of charge. As a matter of time, instead of leaving coffee leftover in trash bins and landfills we will be able to bring used coffee back and store it properly.

The life cycle of a typical building material follows the linear model of cradle to grave. After a material is extracted, it is then manufactured into a building component. Once the lifetime of the component has been exhausted, it is then either downcycled or ends up as building waste. This means that the value of the material generated during extraction and production is lost. Cities can play an important role in sparking a shift to a fundamentally different food system in which we move beyond simply reducing avoidable food waste to designing out the concept of ‘waste’ altogether. As the place where most food eventually ends up, cities can ensure inevitable by-products are used at their highest value, transforming them into new products ranging from organic fertilisers and biomaterials to medicine and bioenergy. Rather than a final destination for food, cities can become centres where food by-products are transformed into a broad array of valuable materials, driving new revenue streams in a thriving bioeconomy.

To sum up, regarding the ongoing coffee consumption in parallel with global environmental crisis and waste management we need to acquire the capability of a green ways to transform spent coffee grounds to bio-materials by different applications into either architectural technology or food industry and furniture design markets. These all would center around entrepreneurship and benefit for both sides of the game, users and manufacturers.

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Pulp Mucilage Parchment Silverskin Bean

Outer Skin Figure 3.5.

An Anatomy of Coffee Cherry Note. The following diagram illustrates the composition of every layer in the entire coffee cherry. During coffee processing from the very beginning of harvest to the end phase of brewery, each consisting layer is falling apart as a by-product and mostly treated as an organic waste.

This section is focused on the structure and the composition of a single coffee bean as Sánchez and Anzola, (2013) highlights that a ripe coffee cherry is made of 3 different layers: • Outer skin as an external layer.

• Mucilage or pulp, an aromatic pulp covered by a film of cellulose called parchment or hull.

• Silverskin, a thin layer encapsulating green bean in the middle part of the coffee cherry.

Two available techniques for coffee processing are:

Firstly, the dry process is the oldest and simple

coffee processing method. After harvesting fresh coffee cherries, the coffee cherry is naturally dried after about 12–15 days in dry weather to reach the moisture content of 10%–11% (Murthy and Naidu, 2012a). This method involves complete grain fermentation that is spread on the surface of the ground, asphalt, or any kind of metal/plastic sheets made in layers to reach the expected dryness. At the end of processing, coffee husk is the main residue and is being removed mechanically.

Secondly, the wet processing which is pretty

a new technique compared to dry process and requires mainly the machinary equipments. In the wet processing, coffee cherries are depulped mechanically, then fermentation taking place for approximately 24–48 h to remove the mucilage layer. After fermentation, the beans are washed, immersed in pure water for around 12 h, to provide better quality of the product, then dried to get the same moisture content of the grains processed via dry method (Murthy and Naidu, 2012a). The main by-products during the wet process are coffee pulp, mucilage and wastewater.

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COFFEE HARVEST

DRYING & HULLING

Coffee Husk

WET PROCESS

DEPULPING & FERMENTATION

by-products

DRY PROCESS

Coffee Pulp Mucilage

In exporting country In importing country

COFFEE ROASTING

Coffee Silverskin

COFFEE BREWING

Spent Coffee Ground

Figure 3.6.

Figure 3.7.

Coffee Processing & Its By-products

Roasted Bean and Its Silverskin

Note. The process of making coffee from the early plantation to enjoying a warm cup of coffee in the end requires uncountable efforts, natural resources, labor works, transportation over oceans and large amounts of energies to fullfill the humans’ desire toward this drink. In the same way, this process produces a great number of residues and organic materials in both exporting and importing countries.

Unfortunately, the majority of these organic by-products have been treated and still is being treated as waste.

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Following the dry method, as 1 ton of clean coffee is produced, 1 tonne of skin, pulp, parchment, and silverskin is produced. While during the wet process to obtain 1 ton of clean coffee, 2 tonnes of pulp, 0.16 tonnes of parchment, 0.9 tonnes of silverskin, and 22.7 tonnes of effluent are produced (Sánchez and Anzola, 2013).

In the third place, as the ripe coffee cherries are converted to the green coffee beans, now they are ready either to be packed and be exported to recipient countries or to be sold in local markets. The roasting process is taking place right here when the green beans are available in manufacturing companies to grind or to produce coffee powder or roasted coffee beans. Once the green coffee beans are roasted the main by-product of this process is known as coffee silverskin.

The final by-product of coffee processing is the most widespread residue internationally among the aforementioned by-products that usually comes with a daily contact of coffee consumers in kitchens, offices, bars and restaurants, known as spent coffee ground.

Ultimately, the by-products obtained from both methods of coffee processing are coffee husk, coffee pulp, mucilage, wastewater, coffee silverskin, and lastly spent coffee ground. The amount and type of every by-product generated depends on the type of coffee processing. As Esquivel and Jiménez (2012) claims, the high amount of coffee by-products, more than 50% of the fresh coffee fruit, generated from coffee processing is not taken into account as a marketing product.

Figure 3.8.

Dry Processing of Coffee Cherries Note. The oldest method of processing coffee and still in use in countries where water resources are limited.

The fresh cherries are laid on surfaces exposed to sunlight. To prevent from rotting away, workers need to rapidly rake them over the surface.

46

Coffee Husk is obtained when fresh cherries are processed via dry method. This by-product is the only residue left during the coffee dry processing.

Coffee husk is rich in organic compounds, nutrients, contains compounds, such as tannins, caffeine, and polyphenols (Pandey et al., 2000).

Coffee Pulp, the main by-product of the wet processing, counts for about 30% of coffee bean dry weight, containing more than 17% cellulose (Bhoite et al., 2013a). The water used during the wet processing, known as coffee wastewater, comes from washing, depulping, and demucilage of coffee cherries that contains high concentration of organic pollutants (Haddis and Devi, 2008).

Coffee Silverskin is a fine film of the external layer of the green coffee bean that is obtained as by-product or residue in the roasting process of coffee beans (Mussatto et al., 2011b). The silverskin represents around 4.2% w/w of the coffee bean (Ballesteros et al., 2014a). This thin layer is usually the very first by-product of coffee processing while green beans are imported by countries all over the world. Hence, this organic residue is found in huge quantity in the coffee importing countries.

Spent Coffee Ground, mainly considered as coffee waste, counts for the largest portion and the most abundant by-product generated during the entire chain of processing coffee. Spent coffee ground generates from the daily consumption of coffee grounds after being filtered onto filter paper or brewed in coffee machines in kitechens, bars, offices, and so forth (Tehrani et al., 2015).

Figure 3.9.

Wet Processing of Coffee Cherry Note. During wet processing, fresh cherries are being washed in huge water tanks which ends up with a lot of waste water left into the nature.

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Considering all residues left behind a cup of coffee, spent coffee grounds and coffee silverskins both are two agroindustrial by-products generated during the processing of coffee for beverages, in amounts that surpass 6 million tonnes per year worldwide (Tokimoto et al., 2005).

While coffee silverskin may be considered exclusively an industrial residue, as produced mainly during the roasting of green coffee beans once imported by every country, spent coffee grounds has a rather ubiquitous existence being produced abundantly both in industrial facilities, like the production of powdered soluble coffee, and also wherever coffee beverages are being served in homes, dorms, hotels, offices, bars, restaurants including inside or outside of urban areas.

To conclude, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, one-third of the edible parts of food produced globally for human consumption is lost or wasted. The field of coffee production is not only an exception either, but also full of hidden and undiscovered potentials which needs an urgent support through enabling the introducing of innovations and entrepreneurships.

In terms of modern urban life, as different and large quantity of coffee by-products are originated during coffee processing including coffee silverskin, and in particular spent coffee grounds, we opt to get hands on experience to enhance sustainability and circularity through this organic material that has been treated as waste for many years.

Figure 3.10.

Depulping Coffee Cherry Note. Depulping stage extracts the two coffee beans inside a coffee cherry and removes red skin and fruit pulp.

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The aim of the circular design over spent coffee grounds is to close the loop of our food waste generation in cities, to reduce resource consumption and to prevent environmental pollution by transforming waste into input material for the next stage of production. regarding the ongoing coffee consumption in parallel with global environmental crisis and urban solid waste generation, we need to acquire the capability of green ways to transform spent coffee grounds to bio-based materials by different applications into a sustainable architecture or as building engineering applications.

Figure 3.11.

The Final By-product of Coffee Processing, Spent Coffee Ground Note. Throughout the coffee supply chain, much of fresh cherry is wasted.

In the end, after all processes done, only 6 percent of the original cherry is left in a cup of coffee and the main by-product, spent coffee grounds, are treated as waste again.

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Figure 3.12.

A Counter Fabricated by SCG Note. As architect says, perhaps one of the most interesting and difficulat applications in reuse of coffee grounds comes with powder bed 3D printing, a process that sounds great for fabrication. Any fine powder can be used in powder bed 3D printer, however its important to achieve a powder consistency below 50 microns like powder sugar. He asked a supplier who extracts the oils for used coffee grounds, to use as fuel for energy, and is left with a finely ground and desiccated waste coffee powder.

Figure 3.13.

Fabrication Details Note. The technology works best when it is used to print individual and unique parts rather than to mass produce the same object. The repetition of rib like forms created from assembly of all the panels emphasizes both its structure and its design as a digital file in construction. The bar itself is made up of 78 custom tiles which utilize the strength of 3D printing to rapidly produce unique forms. The tiles took about two weeks to print and fabricate while assembly took about an hour.

Alex Schofield an Architect and Fabricator, based in Canada owns an in-depth specialty in materials research and 3D printing. He is extremely interested in spatial thinking, creative problem solving, learning through process, tinkering with digital tools, and 3D printing. Coffee generates an extremely large amount of material waste, one that has such a complex and rich amount of resources put into it that there must be a better form of use than to discard it.

Coffee, as a material, has never exhibited itself in the world as that of anything other than a vessel in which to hold chemical materials for our consumption.

Perhaps it is because of our detachment with coffee, as commodity for consumption rather than plant and bean, that we often perceive coffee grounds as material waste. The focus is so largely on the end result, on that perfect cup of coffee, that we have become detached from all its embedded cultural, economic, physical, and environmental footprint.

This project proposes and demonstrates a material application which utilizes 3D powder printing and CNC routing to fabricate reused coffee grounds.

However not just through digital manufacturing, but also material science and agency, the project also investigates and questions our relationship with materials as they manifest through the translation of fabrication. In this vein of thought, we must consider spent coffee grounds as material for the spatial construction of architecture. From parts to whole, the goal was to create a series of panels that would aggregate together to create a much larger form.

Breaking architecture down to its building blocks, literally in the form of its pieces as blocks, bricks, and panels, we can more easily and realistically use 3D printing in an architectural context.

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Figure 3.14.

The Decafe Tiles Note. Decafe Tiles are a composite product made of disposed coffee grounds. The designers are keen to retain the original coffee colour and aroma in the tiles to maintain the emotional appeal of this waste material. The tiles can be applied with common tiling techniques.

Experiments with different processes and shapes led the designer Raul Lauri to create Decafe Tiles.

Figure 3.15.

A Close Look on a Decafe Tile Note. The designs are supposed to be used indoors as finishing materials, as they are not waterproof, on feature walls, ceilings, front counters, etc.

As a natural organic material, slight colour variations occur, adding to the desired characteristics of a unique building material containing more than just physical substances.

DECAFE by Raúl Laurí Pla, being inspired by biodegradable materials made out of coffee grounds, led Spanish designer Raúl Laurí Pla to create his series of table & floors lamps and bowls named the DECAFE project winning first prize at this year’s SALONE SATELLITE AWARDS. Whilst bestowing a sense of a second ‘life’ on the sacred coffee grounds, which are commonly thrown away, the designer believes that this project also promises to enhance the coffee time experience through the senses of sight, smell and touch.

It took two years to master the process which produces the DECAFE material created through an experimental process looking towards traditional culinary techniques as a point of reference. The lamps and bowls actually smell like coffee.

Where the design is minimalistic but stylish, the unique factor is that these items combines recycled material boosting the whole idea around ecosustainability and the latest technologies whilst fully celebrating the whole idea of the coffee experience.

It is therefore a conscious project with emotional references where the designer explains how so many important and personal things happen in our lives and take place around a coffee table.

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Chapter IV

DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT

66

Figure 4.2.

An Image of Spent Coffee Grounds

by Scanning Electron Microscope

67

Note. Once coffee is brewed, the microscopic-sized water molecules infilterate into the porous surface of coffee grounds as binding feautre of water brings every coffee ground attached to other one to form the bigger particles of coffee grounds during the brewing process.

Figure 4.1.

An Image of Spent Coffee Grounds

by Scanning Electron Microscope Note. As the image taken by SEM clearly shows, the surface of spent coffee grounds are pretty porous and this porosity is the reason behind the low specific gravity of this material.

Table 4.1. Chemical Composition of SCGs in Percent (Dry Material)

R

Mussatto et al. (2011a)

Ballesteros et al. (2014a)

Uribarrí et al. (2014)

Cruz-Lopes et al. (2017)

Moisture

ND

ND

10.49 ± 0.09

55

Carbohydrates

ND

ND

ND

ND

Cellulose

8.6

12.40 ± 0.79

28.05

10.78

Hemicellulose

36.7

39.10 ± 1.94

18.83

28.36

Lignin

ND

23.90 ± 1.70

16.21

10.72

Fat

ND

2.29 ± 0.30

13.41 ± 0.25

ND

Tannins

ND

ND

ND

30.36

Protein

13.6

17.44 ± 0.10

11.72 ± 0.28

9.28

Ash

1.6

1.30 ± 0.10

1.81 ± 0.05

1.80

eferences

Table 4.2. Elemental Analysis of SCGs in wt.% (Dry Material)

R

Andreola et al. (2019)

Fischer et al. (2015)

Bok et al. (2012)

Vardon et al. (2013)

Carbon

48.67

55.6

54.61

56.1

Hydrogen

6.54

7.0

6.59

7.2

Oxygen

40.03

35.5

34.83

34.0

Nitogen

2.27

1.8

3.97

2.4

Sulphur

0.0

ND

0.0

0.14

eferences

Table 4.3. Physical and Morphological Properties of SCGs (Dry Material)

R

eferences

U

nits

Arulrajah et al. (2014b)

Kua et al. (2016)

Median Particle size, D50

mm

0.349

0.349

Particle sizes, 0.075 mm - 2.36 mm

%

99.5

100

Organic Content

%

86

ND

Natural Moisture Content

%

107

ND

Optimum Moisture Content

%

130

ND

pH

5.5

5.1 - 5.2

Specific Gravity, GS

1.36

1.36 - 1.37

Note. As data shows what the spent coffee grounds are composed of, it is important to consider that discarded coffee grounds are an organic material with pretty high relative humidity once coffee is brewed, so this is likely in the end to expect diverse percentage points of chemical contents. That’s why this effort has been taken to bring up different results from numbers of researches done over the chemical composition of spent coffee grounds in order to carefully realize the complex composition of the material on average.

Note. Spent coffee ground found to be a carbon-rich material followed by its biodegradable nature. This high amount of carbon can be released later as CO2 during decomposting phase and leading to the increase of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere in the current era of global warming.

Note. D-Value, describing particle size distributions based on sieve analysis. Arulrajah et al. (2014b) pointed out the D50 of spent coffee grounds ranging from 0.332 to 0.351 mm, and all grain size of the particles fall between 0.075 and 2.36 mm. In terms of GS, Kua et al. (2016) notes that SCG is the lightest material compared to fly ash and hydrated lime, while slag and portland cement are the heaviest materials with specific gravities of up to 3.2.

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The focus of this chapter is to highlight and call into question our relationship with organic waste materials, in particular wasted coffee grounds, and natural binding agents to enhance the sustainability through the waste management and waste generation in urban life. Hereby, we are to explore every possible way between the seemingly banal or complicatedly rich interactions with materials which comprise our built environment and in larger scale, the mankind’s footprint on this planet. The goal is to highlight a material waste, spent coffee grounds, of which most of us have had already a personal encounter with.

Having this in mind, personally, I’ve chose to explore and research the use of coffee leftover with different techniques and compositions to some extent with available and affordable ingredients.

Spent coffee grounds are an extremely porous material that water can infiltrate easily and bonding them during the brewing process. Based on the previous images taken by SEM, we are able to see how great the surface of coffee grounds are full of pores. For this reason, once spent coffee grounds are collected, it takes some days to have them dry in the end. In details, if we leave them in a normal room temperature, it takes some 4-5 days to dry out entirely. For having the spent coffee grounds together with the selected natural binders, the very initial phase was to make the prototypes with both dry and wet coffee grounds collected from the local bars and restaurants near the campus of Leonardo, Politecnico di Milano.

To discover more about binding agents, I had to learn form the past. By the advent of petrochemical industry, many of common-in-use traditional techniques disappeared. During the history of mankind, every available and localy-sourced binding material has been used in a diverse applications such as bookbinding, paper-making, water-proofing, wood coating, mural painting, and so on. Conventional and traditional methods in use of natural binders and adhesive agents will be discussed soon in details.

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The methodolgy and the research work has set on the Design of Experiment to evaluate qualititavely the performance and charachtersitics values of every given material that are composed of spent coffee grounds, natural binders, and mediums. Moreover, different manual techniques are being tested to understand how exactly the wasted coffee grounds are working out in relation to their porosity, waterabsorbtant, curing time, etc.

More importantly, regarding this research work is the point that during the early phase of development I came across with the fact that there are not so many works done with wasted coffee grounds comapred to many other available agro-industry by-products.

Especially, when it comes to either interior design or architectural applications, there aren’t a considerable number of works to be found, while we can easily find hundreds of published research works with straw, rice husk, hemp, cork, cardboard, etc. So, this lack of information and work over the spent coffee grounds made me not only to acquire a clear and wide perception that how misleadingly and significantly it has been treated as a waste, but also pushed me towards the hidden potentials lied inside the spent coffee grounds.

In this way, step by step, starting from scanning electron microscopic images to chemical composition and physical properties of coffee grounds were part of the research to have an in-depth elaboration over this organic waste. In brief, based on chemical and physical analysis, spent coffee grounds are considered Lignocellulosic Material in that the main components are three types of carbon-based polymers, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. To put simply, lignocellulosic materials, also known as lignocellulosic biomass, are widely included among the agricultural residues like straw, woodchips, sawdust, rice husk, and so on, which are used in the production of biofuels, feedstock and also paper industry.

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By having this classification through the composition of coffee leftover, we can obtain a clear vision to not only propose the right binding agent, but also to think of possible design application in building and construction industry.

To select the organic and eco-friendly binders, I started to have a look into the history of traditional binder which were commonly and locally produced and used in every community or nation.

These binders have been used in a wide range of applications, industries, and sectors during the history of humankind’s civilization to this moment even.

Hence, according to different needs and requirements, binders were classified by diverse qualities and features for instance from water-solvent binders like starch to water-proofing ones like pine rosin. In the same manner, because of the differences in chemical compositions of every organic matter, different techniques were needed to applied in order to get the best out of the material. In some many of techniques, natural binders are combined and cured with some other plant-based ingredients to bring distinct qualities together in order to optimize the performance of the application. In the end, I could conclude this part of the work by making a list of selected natural binding agents which will be pine rosin, starch, casein, beeswax, natural rubber, and linseed oil as medium.

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EQUIPMENT Digital scale Stainless steel mold Plastic brick mold Glass/Metal tray Aluminium foil Aluminium container Lab measuring cup Double boiler pot Mesh strainer Wood stick Stove 78

Figure 4.3.

Coffee Leftover from a Local Bar Note. Spent coffee grounds used

for making trials during this research work have been collected locally from the available bars nearby the campus Leonardo, Politecnico di Milano. To some extent, during the work, asking bartenders or bar men for coffee waste were not that much wellunderstood by them and even sometimes their reaction were shocking to me to think that how claiming for coffee waste could be considered as a strange behavior.

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Figure 4.4.

Pine Rosin/Colophony Note. A solid and sticky substance originally obtained from pine trees.

Pine rosin is an insoluble material which has a nice quality of water resistant. Historically and currently, it has been used in chewing gum, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, and interestingly as an adhesive agent for sealing and coating materials like wood and cardboard. By heating the solid rosin we can get a highly viscous liquid form binder then can be applied together with heated oil or beeswax to soften the melted rosin.

Figure 4.5.

Beeswax Note. Beeswax, pretty well-known material for making candles, comes from honeycombs. Beeswax is found naturally in solid form and is considered a water resistant substance. Compare to pine rosin has lesser melting point around 6070 centigrades. The most common use of beeswax is in food industry and pharmaceutical laboratories for medicinal products. Beeswax is a nonvegan material.

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Figure 4.6.

Starch Note. Starch is a white color fine powder that is mainly obtained from wheat, corn, potato, etc. Starch is widely being used as viscous ingredient, so-called thickener, in kitchens and recipes for baking cake, bread and sweet. The fine/coarse particles of strach are able to dissovle and gelatinize when heated or added to hot water. Starch is widely used in food products as it is notably a foodsafe product. More importantly, as a thickener, starch has been used for centuries as bookbinding substance and also in paper industry to add strength to paper.

Figure 4.7.

Linseed Oil Note. Linseed oil is a plant-based oil which is sourced from the flax plant. Because of its high capability of oxidation, linseed oil is having a long history of use in different sectors. Linseed oil was used earlier for coating and water-proofing the wood and boats. In the same time, it has been applied to pigments during mural painting to hold the paint on walls. There are different linseed oils available in market such as raw oil and boiled one. The main difference of both is about the curing time in that the boiled one takes less time to polymerize and is still widely in use as a varnish and wood finishing material.

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Figure 4.8.

Natural Rubber Note. Natural rubber, mainly called Caucho, is an organic product made from the latex of a certain type tropical trees. Natural rubber usually is extracted from the trunk of a tree as can be found in Amazon and East Asia. The properties of the natural rubber include high strength and elasticity. Traditionally it has been used to produce water-proof, elastic products and coatings, and today it is often substituted by fossil-based materials such as synthetic polymers.

Figure 4.9.

Casein Note. Casein is the main ingrediant and protein included in milk. Prior to Second World War was mainly in use for gluing wood, timber and making aircrafts. It gives a high strength to the materials to bind and to keep for long time. In terms of historical and traditional applications, casein was considered as one of high quality binders for designing and building structural elements like bonding timbers in bridges and buildings.

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INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 01

60 Coffee

200 Natural Rubber

0 Medium

90

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 02.

60 Coffee

120 Natural Rubber

60 Starch

92

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 03.

30 Coffee

60 Pine Rosin

15 Acetone

94

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 04.

90 Coffee

60 Pine Rosin

30 Beeswax

96

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 05.

30 Coffee

60 Casein

15 Baking Soda

98

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 06.

120 Coffee

60

30

Pine Rosin

Beeswax

30 Linseed Oil

100

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 07.

120 Coffee

90

30

Pine Rosin

Beeswax

30 Linseed Oil

102

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 08.

60 Coffee

60 Starch

30 Linseed Oil

104

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 09.

60 Coffee

90

30

Starch

Beeswax

15 Water

106

INGREDIENTS (in gram)

Prototype 10.

150 Coffee

60 Starch

60 Water

108