Impregnated Biodegradable Plastic or Impregnated Biodegradable Cardboard? + Liquid Container Re-Design

One of the elements debated within the tutorial was whether or not biodegradable plastic could be impregnated with seeds so that when it biodegrades the seeds are automatically planted, the lecturer had only heard of seed impregnation being done with cardboard and so was naturally skeptical. Upon researching, I have found 1 example of plastic that has been successfully impregnated with seeds, this product is entitled 'The Spud Raincoat'. This is an environmentally friendly raincoat that is "made from potato starch and impregnated with seeds that are 100% fully biodegradable, compostable and suitable for planting. This means that at the end of its lifecycle it converts into organic matter and is returned in its entirety to the biosphere; closing the loop." (http://www.gwhoffman.com/blog/2011/10/07/instead-of-planting-a-tree-how-about-planting-a-raincoat/).



Unfortunately, this is the only impregnated biodegradable plastic example that I was able to find, this factor indicates that it is still somewhat under-explored implying that there would potentially be an increase in cost if Hobsons were to undertake my concept of the seeds physically being within the plastic cups.

However, there are more examples of cardboard being impregnated, an example of this is the 'Roll out Veg Mat' designed by British designer Chris Chapman, it is simply corrugated cardboard that has been impregnated with vegetable seeds, you simply roll it out and cover it in soil.

"Chris' idea shows that he understands that some of the hurdles to going green have nothing to politics. Often times they come down to simply not having the available hours in the day to make good things happen. The Roll-Out Veg Mat addresses this conundrum head on, by envisaging other ways to cultivate home gardens brimming with produce, without need of too much labour intensive work." (http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/gardening-for-gumbies-the-roll-out-veg-mat-updated.html).


(The Roll-Out Veg Mat) 


(The Roll-Out Veg Mat) 

Whilst researching the above, I discovered the potential to solve 2 of my designs issues with 1 method, this has been detailed below with my re-designs.

(Re-design of the Liquid Container) 

All of the alterations are a result of both research and physical debate, they have been adapted so that it is a more efficacious design overall that is both affordable and functional.

(Re-design of the lid and the overall visual design) 

I haven't thus far altered the visual design that will be on the cup itself, this is because I believe it is a simplistic design that incorporates the 2 main elements that reflect the Hobsons Brewery and they are their trademark bowler hat and their utilisation of sustainability (i.e. by powering their brewery through wind energy.) I have adapted the lid of the cup, originally, it was a screw on lid that was located half way down the cup, although this was an effective design I found that it wasted a substantial amount of the cup itself. Additionally, the lid was going to simply be discarded (if the consumer did not wish to use it as a flask), however I found that I was able to give the lid a more functional secondary purpose, I designed it so it would be a thinner piece of biodegradable plastic, about 1-2cm thick, (thus allowing the entire cup to be utilised rather than it being split in half) that simply pushes into place (similarly to the lid of a poster container), the new flatter design enables it to be used as a coaster for the cup ensuring that none of the packaging simple goes to waste, no matter how small.


(Example of a poster container and its lid just pushed in place)







































(Re-design of how the 6 cups will be joined together)

During my tutorial, the lecturer inquired as to how the 6 containers would be joined together so that it enabled the product to be classified as singular packaging, I explained that the tops of the containers would be joined together like yogurt pots so that you simply snap them apart when you want one. Andy stated that this on its own may not be strong enough to support 6 bottles which I agreed with, so I designed a cardboard handle that solved 2 design issues. The handle is made of impregnated recycled cardboard (solved the issue of where to place the seeds now that I have dismissed placing them in the biodegradable plastic) which wraps around the containers (like a bow - see sketchbook for notes on how it wraps around) to provide the additional support required (which was the secondary issue).







































(Re-design of the handle itself) 

I have decided to create an example website of the project 'Seeds of Change' to additionally convey the concept of my idea (inspired by the side project established by CAT entitled Zero Carbon Britain). This has been advertised on one of the sides of the cardboard packaging, the handle wraps around the 6 containers like the strings of a bow would wrap around a present, these thin straps enable you to be able to view the bottles inside the containers whilst contributing support. The handle includes the following features...

• The handle itself = Has 'Hobsons Brewery' printed on it. 
• One of the vertical sides = Has as small wind turbine printed on it. 
• One of the horizontal sides = Has the 'Seeds of Change' website printed on it - http://watj212.wix.com/seeds-of-change. 
• The other horizontal side = Has 'Seeds of Change' printed on it.