signature=7f6bef419e60b8e60b3996828d940bb9,From waste to value

Title

From waste to value: Designing with recycled mattress ticking

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Date

2016-12-14

Abstract

The reduction of waste materials is an important step towards a more circular economy. Within the mattress industry, the focus on sustainability and recycling has increased substantially over the last few years. In the Netherlands and a few other European countries the recycling of mattresses is strongly encouraged or made mandatory by local and national government. Matras Recycling Europe B.V. (MRE) is a Dutch company that specialises in the collection and disassembly of used mattresses. In order for this business to be viable and to increase the circularity of the entire mattress industry, it is important to find a suitable application for each of the materials of a used mattress. This thesis focusses on researching the potential of the outer layer of the mattress: mattress ticking. The main research question in this thesis is: How can recycled ticking materials be used to design and create value? The Material Driven Design method (Karana et al., 2015) is applied as a framework to structure the design process, combined with tools and methodology centred around the sustainable business model archetype ‘Create value from ‘waste’’ (Bocken et al., 2014). The context and company are analysed to provide a starting point for the material exploration. The potential of the mattress ticking is explored by tinkering with various ways of manipulating the material, based on a range of variables. The resulting material samples are discussed with a focus group, which led to insights on the perception and experiential value of the materials. A benchmark study compared the mattress material to other recycled textile materials, composite materials and established materials. A questionnaire was used to gain further insights in perception of these materials. The benchmark also discusses a set of inspiring projects and their business models. The characterisation of the material qualities and the benchmark led to the following Material Experience Vision: Creating a unique product with recycled mattress ticking that shows the material’s origin by resembling nighttime and uses the contrasting properties of the material to provide comfort and inspire users to rethink the value of waste. This vision aims to combine the main perspectives of this thesis: company driven, sustainability driven and a material driven perspective. The previous phases are used as input of ideation and concept development. Five ideas are chosen to further explore: Slippers, pet products, nightstand, acoustic panels and the pack pillow. After further development, the concepts are compared based on a set of criteria. The nightstand product is chosen to further develop, mostly because of the way it fits into the mattress industry and how it promotes circularity. The nightstand is further developed to increase functionality and add value. The final product consists of three elements, which can be assemble in different set-ups to adjust the height and appearance. The base and middle elements provide storage, while the top element can also be used as a tray. This product is evaluated with a 1:1 prototype in a qualitative user study. In the final design phase, the value for each of the involved stakeholders is analysed and a set of scenarios for future development are proposed. The thesis is concluded with further recommendations about the development of the material and the product design.

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master thesis

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(c) 2016 Van den Dool, A.C.