Walachei

ALBA sorting facility excursion

admin — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 14:22:15 +0000

The excursion to the ALBA sorting facility took place on June 7, 2012 during the DMY International Design Festival in Berlin

At 14:00 Mr. Habeck from the company Alba greeted 12 participants at the plastic sorting facility in Mahlsdorf, Berlin.

Alba collects all domestic packaging waste form Berlin and sorts the packaging at the facility in Mahlsdorf, Berlin.

Packages are predominantly automatically sorted and a fraction is separated by hand.

Following material flows are collected: metals (steel and aluminium), composite materials (like Tetrapak) and 5 different plastics (PE, PP, PET, PA and PS).

The sorted materials are then sold, further processed and reused.

German Design Award

admin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:56:16 +0000

On 5 and 6 June the jury of the German Design Award met. Walachei founder, Erik van Buuren, was appointed as jury member by the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Dr. Rösler.

For the first time, the official German Design Award “Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” was conducted by the DMY International Design Festival on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

In Fall 2012 the award ceremony of the “Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” will be held in Berlin. More information under: www.bundesdesignpreis.de and www.dmy-berlin.com

DMY International Design Festival 2012

erik — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:01:38 +0000

Excursions during DMY 2012:

7 June, 14:00 ALBA plastic sorting facility, Berlin

8 June, 10:30 BSR waste incineration plant, Berlin

9 June, 10:00 Beekeeper Kohfink, Berlin

Following the experience in developing Walachei products Erik is hosting and moderating excursions to Berlin based facilities during this year’s DMY Festival. Topics include waste, recycling and biodiversity.

BSR waste incineration plant excursion

erik — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:50:46 +0000

In December 2011, Erik taught at the Esmod Fashion Academy and visited the BSR waste incineration plant in Berlin with students of the Sustainable Fashion Master Course. The excursion was the first day of the module on designing fashion with sustainable, detox and recyclable materials. From the first moment students saw the amounts of waste Berlin daily produces, all were highly motivated to design recyclable polyester clothing.

Municipal waste from Berlin is collected and driven to incineration facility and dumped on a huuuge pile. Glass, paper and packaging are collected separately in Berlin. The municipal waste is fed to the incinerator, which works 24 hours a day 365 days per year to generate energy. At the end of the incinerator scrap metal is disposed off on a huge pile as well as incineration slag.

DMY 2011 Cradle to Cradle workshop

erik — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:32:33 +0000

On last year’s festival Erik held a Cradle to Cradle designer workshop. Besides a presentation on the basic principles, Erik opened a consultation desk where many designers brought their products to discus ways of optimising the product according to Cradle to Cradle.

BioFach

erik — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:12:11 +0000

On the BioFach 2012, the world`s largest organic trade Fair in Nuremberg Germany, we showed all certified shower gels and wallpaper and also tested the detergent prototypes. We thank all visitors for the fantastic, encouraging feedback on all products! The exhibition from top to toe was established with detox, reusable and/or recyclable materials.

The black background paper can be totally recycled and was based upon the Cradle to Cradle wallpaper. The logo was handdrawn with bee wax crayons. The wooden sculpture was made from one lark, originating 50 km from Nuremberg and was knocked over by a storm.

The carpenter Markus Hetscher (Fa. Ehrengruber) cut the lark in precisely matching pieces. Cradle to Cradle certified floor tiles were kindly provided by Desso.
Thank you.

Consultation with Berlin based fair specialists showed that the amount of waste normally generated for exhibitions is app. one cubic meter per square meter space. For our 12 squaremeter stand we generated 1/4 cubic meter paper waste. The wooden sculpture was put back in it´s intended product cycle.