DIY BIOPLASTIC MATERIAL DEVELOPED FROM BANANA SKIN WASTE AND AROMATISED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIJOUTRY OBJECTS

The present work proposes a possible use of a very diffuse waste in the agricultural and food sector, such as banana peels, for the fabrication of a biocomposite material adapted to the production of small design objects, in particular to a collection of bijoutry items. This procedure of self-producing the material, often defined as do-it-yourself (DIY) bioplastics, has initially an educational interest for designers to practice the experimental method in a kind of “advanced craftsmanship”, which has considerable connections with industrial design, especially in view of a customised approach, typical of Industry 4.0. With experimental attempts, the designer is able to confer to the material also an expressive interest, since it allows reasoning on producing a material with some interest for design purposes. In this specific case, the material, described as “Banpur”, has been developed through experimental trials, coupling the waste in the most possibly “light” and natural way to its matrix. In addition, it was aromatized with essences coming from Greece in an attempt to characterise it and in particular enabling the material to be as much as possible customised for use. This experimentation is inserted in the recent trend towards self-production of materials, which allows upcycling waste in a new concept of sustainability, based on a longer time duration for objects, therefore in the creation of an intrinsic value over time, which was demonstrated also by the fact that the objects obtained did last with negligible alteration over a considerable time span. This approach enables the establishment of a bond between the user and the objects themselves, and obtaining a usability of the material going beyond functionality and tactile interaction. For this purpose, the “personality” of the material was established through a specific study according to the typical characteristics established in literature for DIY materials.