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Waste can – and should – be turned into furniture, clothing, boats, airplanes and even air-inflated airport pavilions, says Miniwiz CEO Arthur Huang, whose company specializes in the manufacture of products and materials. construction from waste.
But for a more sustainable future that depends on more recycling, it will require recycled products that are, in its terms, "bady", ie those that can compete with conventional products, has it? he told the participants. Fortune Brainstorm Design Conference in Singapore last Wednesday.
Appropriately, Huang made his remarks by wearing clothes made of 100% recycled materials. His company has built a complete airport pavilion from half a million bottles of recycled plastic. The pavilion is not only ecological; it is also an advanced technology. A digital sensor can control the internal pressure of the structure.
"So, whenever there is too much wind or rain, the structure becomes stiffer or lighter," he said.
Miniwiz is involved in a large number of other sustainable development projects, ranging from a solar powered portable recycling plant to an artificially controlled recycling bin. The company even uses recycled materials in boats and airplanes.
Huang's goal is to help accelerate the transition to a closed-loop economy in which as many materials as possible are used repeatedly and nothing is lost. According to Huang, three obstacles stand in the way.
The first? Contamination of garbage. It is difficult and costly to separate the different types of waste economically and efficiently so that they can be reused, Huang said.
The second is transformation: turning waste into something valuable is not easy, he said.
The third is a lack of scale. Even though companies like Miniwiz can make something valuable with garbage, he added, they still need to find ways to do enough to make a viable business proposition.
A closed-loop transformation will require an in-depth rethinking of current sustainability and recycling models, said the founder and CEO. Traditional business initiatives can not go so far, as companies often have little incentive to become more sustainable.
"Sustainability is also totally useless in today's economy," he said. "Just because you use green products does not mean that your sales will be better. Selling coffee today does not mean that your consumer will buy it just because you are trying to be sustainable. "
Huang said companies like his will have to target "moonshot" solutions that will lead to products that can compete with others. For example, the airport pavilion was just as durable and cost half as much as a conventional structure.
Huang said, "We want bady products."
For more coverage of Fortune's Brainstorm Design, click here.
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