For most societies throughout history, the processes of mending, repairing, reusing, and recycling have remained as intrinsic as those of eating, sheltering and clothing. Perhaps, the conspicuous presence of and the direct and recurrent contact with staple resources were sufficient to establish due cognizance amongst people about the precarity of natural resources. However, the emergence of the factory system and with it, the division of labour and the subsequent implementation of this fragmented method of production and consumption beyond the factory has arguably left people dissociated from the procedures of production. The presence of an abundance of products in the market, accompanied by the popularisation of consumerism and cornucopianism, has led to reckless and wasteful attitudes. Further, the innovation in materiality constricts the usage of older methods of disposing and dealing with waste.

With the implications of these factors now visible via environmental complications, various attempts to address the declining environmental conditions are being taken. Even as discussions for implementing sustainable practices in the realm of design and architecture have surged in recent times, it is imperative to facilitate the practical feasibility of such processes in an easily employable manner. To do so, it is essential for research institutions to develop tools, processes and pedagogical blueprints that can guide practitioners in the market to employ circularity when dealing with waste. At the recently concluded London Design Festival 2024, an exhibition under the moniker Circular Economy Blueprints showcased a practical guide for dealing with waste. Set up within the Park Royal Design District in London, UK, the exhibition, running from September 14 - 22, 2024, showcased five blueprints that delineate better ways to manage waste.

“We live on a planet with finite resources. Between 1970 and 2010, global resources extraction grew from 22 billion to 70 billion tonnes. Unless substantial changes are made to the way we produce and consume materials, humankind will need three earths to support its current demand in 2050,” reads an excerpt from the blueprint, citing the urgency of waste management. Circular Economy Blueprints, with the showcase of inferential blueprints that mark the culmination of a six-month long research project, serves the purpose of formalising the processes of diverting waste from waste streams and into the community. “The circular economy is a model of production and consumption which recognises that simple fact. It uses sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling to ensure existing materials and products can be used as long as possible. In contrast to our traditional ‘linear economies’, the circular economy prioritises reducing waste and retaining the value of materials,” a passage from the blueprint delineates.

In a bid to address these challenges, five grassroots organisations operating in Park Royal came together to respond to the overarching inquiry: “How do we seed a bottom-up circular economy in Park Royal that delivers both environmental and social benefits?” For the six-month research project that preceded this exposition, the five organisations were each paired with a local waste material stream and tasked with finding solutions that would result in a lesser volume of these materials going to waste. The culminating blueprint delineates processes for reprocessing excavated clay waste, rebuilding construction waste from film and TV sets, reconstituting joinery wood waste, reusing concrete formwork construction waste and rethinking demolition waste.

Rescued Clay, an organisation that rescues clay from construction sites in London and uses it to create novel objects, undertook research with construction ‘spoil’ or the large quantities of soil, sub-soils, rock and gravel that are excavated before beginning large urban infrastructure projects. Nearly 14 million tonnes of spoil is annually extracted in the UK, of which some is utilised as cementitious material aggregate on site and a major portion is either downcycled as backfill in quarries or transported to waste sites with huge transport emissions. Only one per cent (or less) of the clay spoil is reprocessed or upcycled. It is this number that Rescued Clay aims to change by employing the spoils to be organically used for myriad purposes. "The sheer volume of available spoil clay in London could supply all local pottery studios and beyond," Rescued Clay shares.

After a thorough material research, Rescued Clay delineated a blueprint for the usage of this clay, with the required cost, space and step-by-step process of getting the spoils from the mother site to the research and design lab for its eventual processing and usage as a reclaimed raw material. The organisation also identified the hurdles and barriers that come with clay spoils from different sites as well as the cost and space associated with transporting and processing it. "The project highlighted that the main barrier isn't just financial, but cultural. Despite the high initial investment, the long-term community impact of using local spoil clay instead of mined clay is substantial. It seems illogical not to connect these worlds of excess clay and pottery needs," the organisation shares. "Learning about other waste streams showed the immense potential for collaboration in tackling multiple environmental issues simultaneously," they add

Research on the waste that emerges from film and TV sets, was undertaken by ReCollective, which includes a network of collaborators and members who work together to create systemic changes and influence the attitude towards waste materials. Since film sets typically require the building of large expanses that also appear fresh, large quantities of virgin material such as timber, plastic, metal, paint, doors, windows and more are utilised. They are also quickly discarded after the shoot culminates, leaving behind a large amount of myriad waste. ReCollective found that the Park Royal film industry produces 500 tonnes of set building waste annually, of which nearly 30 per cent is recycled and less than one per cent reclaimed and upcycled. With the intent of reusing as much of this waste as possible, ReCollective analysed materials to infer how they could be reclaimed and turned into new community buildings.

London-based Blast Studio, dedicated to the task of creating sustainable furniture and interior design objects using discarded materials from local sites, worked on researching and finding ways to restore joinery wood waste. While the larger offcuts from this waste output are often stored by the producers for use in future projects, the smaller off-cuts and mixed sawdust are more difficult to store and repurpose. From the 4.5 million tonnes of wood waste produced annually in the UK, about 22 per cent is reprocessed into composite boards such as MDF, chipboard and OSB. Since a lot of the construction waste is typically mixed with other aggregates or contaminated with glue, fixings, preservatives and paint, it becomes difficult to find and process them. Through material research and experimentation, Blast Studio arrived at a few prototype iterations of combining waste materials that are most suitable to make the final composite board prototype.

Extensive research by Re-Made on the reuse of concrete formwork construction waste for the design exhibition led to the understanding that less than one per cent of the waste accrued from concrete formwork is reclaimed or upcycled. Re-Made is a reclaimed materials shop that connects local start-ups, artists and community organisations with surplus materials from local industries. Their aim with the research is to develop ways to identify the variety of materials used in concrete formwork—such as plywood, softwood and timber grinders, to name a few—so as to eventually develop a proposal for collecting and processing them efficiently for reuse.

Lastly, Alex Toohey, who is an architectural designer and member of ReCollective, sought ways to rethink demolition waste via his material research. In 2023, 137 million tonnes of demolition waste was produced in the UK. Of this, less than one per cent was upcycled and reclaimed for community projects, installations and buildings. More critically, it is estimated that nearly five million square feet of real estate in the Park Royal area will be demolished by the year 2030 due to a change in building standards. With no government policy requiring the assessment or control of embodied carbon emissions from building demolition, little progress has been made in reducing emissions within the built environment, despite concerted efforts by policymakers and contractors to increase the rate of reuse and recycling. Toohey used the Minerva Rd building—earmarked for future demolition—as a case study to delineate a materials audit of the warehouse, along with the salvage value and processing requirements of the materials involved. His findings, compiled as material research and a cohesive blueprint, were presented during the showcase of the exhibition during the London Design Festival.

The five blueprints, designed for change, were arrived at after a series of focused research sprints, workshops and public exhibitions. The research project culminated with the hope of forming new circular economy organisations and businesses that can work towards a reduced amount of materials going to waste as well as reclaimed, repurposed and affordable materials being made available to the public. The next steps also include reducing the barriers delineated in the formalised blueprints, which the participants hope to work on with the help of external funding and voluntary assistance from experts and novices alike.

In its 22nd edition, the London Design Festival—including its 11 design districts, partners and the design fair Material Matters—stirs the city with a dynamic programme of installations, exhibitions, workshops, talks and more. Follow STIR at London Design Festival 2024, as we continue to bring the best of the festival's offerings as media partners along with our own initiatives across the city, including our partners Shoreditch Design Triangle, Mayfair, the Global Design Forum, and more across Brompton, Battersea, Chelsea, Dalston to Stokey and Bankside.