Abstract
In 2019-2020, The Rubber Impact Project focused on disrupting the bicycle inner tube waste stream in San Francisco. This rhizome-like project took a broad-based approach by collectively harnessing various design drivers—data, technology, products, experiences, systems, and implications—to model needed systemic change. To track waste tubes, we partnered with local bike shops. The research showed San Francisco discards over 100,000 tubes annually. This dead-end material flow goes straight to landfill. Used tubes are modern industrial skins whose flexibility, surface quality, and shape offer unique potential. In the 1980’s our lead designer established waste tubes as a design resource, and today online searches yield numerous upcycling examples. To prototype reuse channels, we supplied samples to California College of the Art’s (CCA) Materials Library as their first self-sourced, used raw material. We provided K-5 curriculum for San Francisco Unified School District’s Every Day Earth Day program and tubes to a K-8 school as superior substitutes for chair fidget bands that engage active feet. We distributed rubber to Friends of the Urban Forest, landscapers, and gardeners as an improved method for tying and staking young trees and plants. To encourage collection and reuse in art/design we installed a “material exchange station” at CCA and supplied tubes to Academy of Art University’s School of Fashion. The result is an “opportunity template” that leverages a community’s unique components to facilitate increased sustainability. The project also functions as a gateway for discussing further environmental issues surrounding transportation rubber—ubiquitous globally and a significant contributor to microplastics pollution.
Presenters
Mandana Mac PhersonAdjunct Professor, Special Programs, Industrial Design, School of Fashion, California College of the Arts & Academy of Art University, United States Gigi Obrecht
Founder, Creative Director, Design Strategy, Post Tool Design, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Education, Assessment and Policy
KEYWORDS
Rubber, Reuse, Design, Community, Bicycle Inner Tubes, Curriculum, Education, Waste
