* as provided by our sponsor
Waste
Circular economy
Social economy
our solution
The challenge we were given by the province of Vlaams- Brabant was to make a truly sustainable product, socially, financially, and environmentally. The first goal was to make something created completely out of waste, but also to have it as part of the circular economy, using the resources for as long as possible. The second goal was to implement it in the social economy. In a social economy enterprise, the main value is employing people as a priority over profit.
The challenge
History
The challenge
Vlaams-Brabant, our sponsor, stated the challenge : “Create an innovative product for social economy using waste streams.”
October 2019
Orientation
We tried to acquire knowledge by searching for some information about what Social and Circular Economy is. In order to get a better view on the subject, we visited some Social enterprises and Companies that deal with waste.
November
Ideation
After some brainstorming sessions, we gathered all information and ended up with 4 starting ideas. A survey and some feedback from our sponsor and the PiP board helped us decide on our final product: a reusable wrapping textile
December
Prototyping
In the second semester of the project, we started being creative!. Trial and Error was the motto, we came together, grabbed our old Tshirts and some scissors, and tried out some things. Afterward, we came together and specified the details of the final design, going further with some great ideas.
February
Task division
When we finally defined our product, our team members were organized in 8 task division groups, which were responsible for the details of the product.
Branding
Created the brand identity of our product.Defined our positioning statement, our values and our objectives, as well as the relevant visual content.
Design
Prototyped the actual product. The team was also responsible for testing out the sort of textiles that is good to use.
Storytelling
Created the marketing strategy to engage people in the Inpakt community and worked out the community platform. Evaluated the circularity of the product.
Tag
Designed the tag and web-app that goes with it.
Selling
Created a list of shops that are interested in selling the product.
Survey
Conducted and analyzed surveys.
Production
Thought through the production process in detail. Every step is described so it can easily be implemented in a social enterprise.
Costs
Came up with estimates for the costs incurred by a social enterprise undertaking our project, and setted benchmarks for revenues and profitability.
March - April
Impact
Why a reusable wrapping textile?
Wrapping our presents is a beautiful tradition. However, it causes a significant environmental effect, since most wrapping paper is non-recyclable, and is usually fixed with the use of adhesive tape, which can be harmful. We think that wrapping our gifts is a significant part of the process of gift-giving, and shifting to a wrapping textile is a way of enhancing it and at the same time protecting our nature.
Impact
Why produced in social economy?
Social economy enterprises in Flemish Brabant have the experience and equipment to create products out of textile. Moreover, since the creation of Inpakt textiles is a labor-intensive activity, social economy can take advantage of the process, to create job opportunities for those with the greatest distance from the labor market.
Circularity of the product
For Inpakt wraps, we purchase the clothing that Kringwinkels sorted out as ‘not to sell in their own second-hand shops’. These clothes are most of the time of lower quality but not yet totally worn out. Due to the fact that the clothing we use can still be worn, the making of Inpakt wraps is a form of downcycling. However, since these clothes are a result of a surplus of donated clothing in thrift stores, we are actually creating a positive social and ecological impact, by preventing their exportation all over the world.
Retail
Returning tarnished Inpakt wraps: When a patch of the Inpakt wrap is torn or has a stain that won’t go away by washing, the Inpakt wrap can be returned. The tarnished Inpakt wraps are picked up with a new delivery and brought back to the social economy enterprise where they can be
repaired because of their modular design. The repaired Inpakt wraps are sold again to the stores, thereby extending the life of the Inpakt wrap.
(reversed) Logistics
The transport from the social economy enterprise to the retail shops will be carried out as much as possible by cargo bikes made by VELO. The Inpakt wraps will be shipped in linen bags that will be picked up later with a new delivery.
Resources
The resource here is textile collected by Kringloopwinkels.
Production
After sorting the received textile bags from the Kringloopwinkels, about 50% of the bags won’t be used to make the Inpakt wraps. Therefore, we decided to return all the non-picked textile to the Kringloopwinkels
Donating the leftover textile
In the rough-cutting step, a lot of textile will be cut off and not used anymore in our production-process. We would donate these leftovers to other initiatives that can use these like primary schools or youth associations (Scouts&Gidsen Vlaanderen, Chiro, ...) that use these for tinkering (knutselen). A possible partner could be Bazart, which is an art youth association (https://www.bazart.org/). We left the idea of selling these scraps because this wouldn’t be very profitable.
Repair
Since the repair service is extra work on top of the regular production-process, a possibility is outsourcing the repairments to zorgsector/creagroep.
End-of-life
The product has reached its end-of-life when the Inpakt wrap is torn/ broken in some way and therefore not useable anymore or when the Inpakt wrap isn’t used anymore because people lost interest in it. In the first case, the repair tutorials and the repair service can extend the product's life. In the second case, their interest can be re-sparked to some extend by having the two sides of the wrap that have a different pattern. A second way for this is to exchange your own Inpakt wrap with someone else’s. In the future, decorations could be sold as well to “upgrade” or to pimp your Inpakt wrap. They could be made by the same social economy enterprise or a collaboration with other textile recycling initiatives is also an option.
Consumption
Repairing the Inpakt wrap yourself:
A tutorial about how to easily repair the wrap yourself can be found here. Thereby the product life is extended for DIY people. Also, this way of repairing is cost-free for us and the customer.
* Own adaptation from Accenture, Circular advantage: Innovative business models and technologies that create value