Experimental collaboration with new partners can add much value to the quality of practice-based research. We spoke with three people involved in KIEM-GoCI projects about the benefits of collaborating with wreckers, students and clothing moths.
"The idea of using clothing moths for textile recycling is new. People think of clothes moths as troublesome pests because their larvae eat holes in clothing, but like silkworms, they excrete a fibrous material," says Michelle Baggerman, working in the Tactical Design lectureship at ArtEZ University of the Arts and is research coordinator of the project 'Natural Cleaners: collaboration with clothes moths'.
“We usually regard clothes moths as troublesome because their larvae eat holes in clothing and research is focused on their extermination. But they prove to be picky eaters and select specific artificial or natural fibres as their meal. After digesting the textile fibres, the moth larvae excrete a protein-rich substance and possibly other useful substances that can be used as new raw materials, like biopolymers.”
“We usually regard clothes moths as troublesome because their larvae eat holes in clothing and research is focused on their extermination. But they prove to be picky eaters and select specific artificial or natural fibres as their meal. After digesting the textile fibres, the moth larvae excrete a protein-rich substance and possibly other useful substances that can be used as new raw materials, like biopolymers.”
"The collaboration in this project is new, the partners have never worked together before. One of our partners is the large textile collection company Sympany. They find the project very valuable, as they have long been looking for ways to better sort textile materials so that more textiles can be recycled instead of incinerated. We also work with the Dutch Pest & Wildlife Expertise Centre (KAD). For the first time they experience that research on moths does not only aim at extermination, but can also contribute to a positive use of these insects."
Hopes and goals
"We hope that the research will show that clothes moths can separate relevant fibers in non-wearable clothing. Also, we are curious whether the 'frass' (moth poop) provides a new, fertile raw material. Hopefully, we will be able to scale up these biological principles in follow-up research to contribute to the sustainable goals of the textile sector."
"We want to breed 'happy' moths, that is, to know under what conditions the moths flourish. The results are already promising. We are very curious to see if they will succeed in converting the fibers they excrete into something valuable. Maybe we can mimic their metabolism. But anyway, these textile-eating and frass pooping critters are very interesting if you look at them through a different lens. It's a small project, but our expectations are high."
In cooperation with the innovation program GoCI (an initiative of CLICKNL and National Regieorgaan Praktijkgericht Onderzoek SIA) and NADR (Network Applied Design Research), the digital magazine 'Collaboration for Impact' has been launched. This magazine provides a glimpse into all GoCI projects in 32 articles. The project 'Design collaboration in the development of sustainable tourism' is one of them.
Would you like to know more about this project, and to discover the other 31 projects? Go to the online magazine
Source article: Collaboration For Impact (online magazine)
