Flexible foam materials like yoga mats and flip-flop soles may feel nice and squishy under your feet, but they’re hiding a dark and very eco-unfriendly secret: they’re made of petrochemicals. The non-biodegradable, non-renewable materials may soon be overtaken by Bloom, a foam material derived from all natural algae.

Bloom is the result of a collaboration between Algix, a producer of algae byproducts, and Effekt, a developer of eco-friendly materials. The process involves harvesting algae biomass from U.S. and Asian waste streams. The algae they use is abundant, quick-growing, not a food source, and generally seen as an environment-clogging nuisance, so harvesting and using it is kind of a win-win for everyone.

After harvest, the algae is dried and mixed with natural compounds to form the soft and flexible foam material. The foams contain 15% – 60% algae; the exact specifications depend on the intended application.

Aside from yoga mats and shoes, planned applications include surf traction, bath toys, packaging, and luggage. The material goes into production in the U.S. and Asia in early 2016.

The post First Ever Algae-Derived Foam Makes Yoga Earth Friendlier first appeared on Gajitz.

As 3D printing grows ever more popular and people use at-home devices like 3D printing pens and mini-fabricators, we’re going to encounter a pretty serious plastic problem. Plastics already place a heavy toll on the environment, but the plastic filament used to fabricate stuff at home is rarely recycled. Now, in comes Wound Up, a 3D printing filament made of recycled coffee grounds.

The product from 3Dom is actually a coffee-filled wire filament. It’s not completely free of plastic, but its plastic content is significantly lower than comparable filaments. Wound Up can be used in any printer that accepts PLA, and it creates objects with a very unique look.

Things printed using Wound Up look almost like they’re carved from wood. Their rich, deep color is reminiscent of a dark wood while the natural coffee material gives them a natural-looking grain. The inventors say the products created with Wound Up are just as sturdy as their plastic counterparts. One of their example projects is a drinking cup made of coffee grounds.

Even the spool that holds the Wound Up filament is eco-friendly. The Eco-Spool is made of plant sugars and will decompose much quicker than traditional plastic spools. This type of recycled and eco-friendly material could be a real game-changer when it comes to the environmental impact of 3D printing, which is something we should all be concerned about as the practice edges closer and closer to being a routine in-home thing.

The post Caffeine Dreams: Recycled Coffee = 3D Printing Filament first appeared on Gajitz.

With a few notable exceptions, just about all 3D printing up to this point has been done with plastic as a base material. A collaboration between MIT’s Mediated Matter Group, MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and MIT’s Glass Lab has led to a pretty exciting advancement: 3D printing with molten glass.

The group calls their process G3DP. It involves an upper cartridge acting as a kiln at up to 1900 degrees Fahrenheit. The lower chamber anneals the molten glass, allowing it to cool slowly, letting the newly-printed structure harden. The team figured out that by precisely adjusting the orientation and thickness of the optically transparent glass, they can closely control the light transmission, reflection, and refraction qualities of the finished objects.

That may sound a little like mumbo-jumbo, and the video only seems to focus on the (admittedly very impressive) artistic value of the G3DP method. But in simpler terms, it means that this method might help us make higher-quality, less-expensive fiber optics in the near future. It could even be used as a simpler method of making eyeglass lenses – and the decorative possibilities are still a pretty big part of the G3DP method’s appeal, of course. Just imagine these gorgeous bespoke light fixtures all throughout your house!

The post Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot: MIT’s 3D Printing Uses Molten Glass first appeared on Gajitz.

The next time you pick up an eco-friendly pair of shoes, you might actually be wearing the byproduct of the thriving pineapple industry. A new textile called Piñatex has the potential to push environmentally-harmful products like leather, vinyl, and even cotton out of the way. And, interestingly enough, it is made from the discarded leaves of pineapple trees.

Carmen Hijosa invented Piñatex while working in the leather industry. On a business trip to the Phillippines, she witnessed first-hand the toxic effect the industry had on the environment and on its workers. On the same trip, however, she was struck by a brilliant idea: the ridiculously abundant natural fibers in the Phillippines could be used as a harmless and versatile substitute. After years of research and development, Hijosa founded the company Ananas Anam and patented her invention.

Once the fruit is harvested from the pineapple tree, the tree is left to rot. Hijosa developed a method in which the otherwise-wasted leaves from those trees are harvested, degummed, and put through a process that turns them into a non-woven textile comparable to felt or leather. The Piñatex can then be stamped to resemble other materials such as metallic vinyl, leather, or snakeskin.

The most exciting aspect of Piñatex is that it is completely sustainable and uses no more water than it takes to grow the plants, which are already being grown for the food industry. Even cotton, long considered an eco-friendly textile, uses an alarming amount of water in its production. Piñatex is currently being tested in real-world applications such as clothing and upholstery, and it has the potential to become an incredibly versatile, Earth-friendly alternative to traditional textiles.

The post Next-Gen Eco-Friendly Leather Comes From Pineapple Trees first appeared on Gajitz.

Good ol’ sturdy wood has been providing us with fire, furniture, houses, pencils, and a million other things since the first human figured out how to kill a tree. But here’s a new way to use wood that we never thought was possible: sewing it.

Product designers Anastasiya Koshcheeva and Oya-Meryem Yanik changes the way molded wood is used. Chester, as they have named it, is an innovative surface material that is held together with stitches rather than with glue, lending a folksy, quilted look to whatever it adorns.

Chester can be used on its own to make unique furniture or decorative pieces, but it can also be applied over plywood for a sturdier, thicker, prettier piece of furniture.

One of the benefits of Chester is that its quilting gives it a soft, cushiony feeling. Bent wood furniture – traditionally stylish but hard on the backside – can now enjoy the softness of a fabric-covered piece. Once the designers complete their development and get Chester to market, anyway.

The post Sewn Wood is a Brand New Use for an Age-Old Material first appeared on Gajitz.