Cardboard as a Local Material System
From waste to resource — transforming Fab Lab leftovers into rigid structures and flexible fibers.
Week Summary
Monday: Introduction to circular economy and Fab Labs as local nodes. Visit to Transfolab: a makerspace focused on community growth and upcycling.
Tuesday: Material experimentation matrix based on waste streams at Fab Lab Barcelona. Selected cardboard for its potential vs. accessibility. Later, Museo Terra exhibition: plastic's duality (durability vs. single-use crisis) and biomaterials.
Wednesday and Thursday: Hands-on experiments with cardboard — different binders, shredding, extrusion, molding and drying cycles.
Material System Canvas · Cardboard
Estimated quantity: ~75.6 kg/week → ~3 tons/year.
insight: consistent underused local stream
Process: Shredding → mixing starch-based binder (water + cornstarch + glycerin) → molding / pressing / extrusion → air or heat drying.
Available machines: Laser cutter, CNC molds, 3D printer (extrusion experiments), heat press. Existing infrastructure enables full local cycle.
Not suitable for packaging → better for rigid modular and hybrid materials.
Distributed Production Canvas
Cardboard waste from Fab Lab Barcelona, ~3 tons/year.
Bins managed by staff, mixed condition. challenge: no quality sorting
Shredding → bio-binder → pressing/extrusion → drying and flattening → assembly.
Modular tiles, coasters, woven hybrids. For designers, students, temporary installations.
Reuse, reprocess (reshred), compost. Material stays inside continuous local loop.
Material Experimentation Matrix
Prioritising experiments: mapping materials by potential performance vs. technical complexity. Cardboard offers high potential and low-medium complexity.
Decision: Cardboard balances accessibility, processability, and circular potential → ideal for local experimentation.
Material Exploration · Cardboard Experiments
Experiment 1
Very dry shredded + 3 parts binder → not homogeneous, hard to control.
Experiment 2
Finer shredding + less drying (moist) + 2 parts binder → extrusion failed (lumps in binder), blockages.
Experiment 3 (best result)
Finer shredding, higher moisture, homogeneous mix → successful extrusion, smooth flow, better control.
Material Behavior and Insights
Strong and rigid when dry. Can hold thin shapes but deforms during drying (shrinkage). Heat press flattens pieces.
Extruded strands: "straw-like", braidable, high shrinkage → potential for textiles and connectors.
Tiles and coasters: interlocking system, rigid, good compression resistance.
Water content is critical: shrinkage must be designed, not avoided.
Hybrid experiments: rigid and flexible
Extruded straws braiding: Combining rigid connectors with flexible woven elements opens new possibilities for modular furniture, biodegradable textiles and architectural components.
Heat-press flattening: Post-drying correction allows precise thickness and flatness for interlocking joints. Laser cutting of final tiles tested at Fab Lab.
Process Documentation
Complete process documentation: from waste collection to final experiments.
Presentation
Week presentation slides.