Perpetual Pots

Tea is a cultural and eminent beverage. The tea bags are only used once, thereafter they end up in waste bins. Large amount of tea leaves are discarded, leading to the loss of precious substances such as catechin, melanin and phenolic compound which are still present in the waste tea leaves. 

In the framework of concept and material design, employing the method of Bio-Design,  Perpetual Pots explores the potential of up-cycling tea leaves waste-stream into a new compostable material. Imagining affordances of the material’s chemical properties that can replace plastics from greenhouse industry.

 

 

Bio - design is a rapidly emerging approach significantly observable in contemporary design practices, investigating replacements of industrial and mechanical systems with biological processes through practice based research. 

The material composition consists of potato starch as a bio binder which enables the material to become water repellent. The material is highly malleable and can be heat pressed into any form using foam as a resting/drying base. After drying the material can be sanded, polished, engraved on, etc.This method of producing/creating products prolongs the life of tea leaves after one time consumption. Tea leaves are high in phenolic content making the material nourishing compostable for diverse plant species.