Could organic waste from our cities’ restaurant industries be used to create high value materials and products for the built environment? This hands-on workshop will introduce possible approaches to organic waste upcycling and bioplastic development for the urban context. Participants will be working with sugarcane waste, also known as bagasse—one of the world’s most abundant agricultural byproducts. It can be collected from sugar refineries or from local restaurants that serve sugarcane juice. By mixing biopolymers, natural additives, and bagasse, participants will explore how to create low-carbon, non-toxic, biodegradable materials and discuss their possible applications in the urban context. Each participant will be able to try out two different fibre-reinforced bioplastic recipes and create 2D and 3D samples. After the workshop, participants are invited to assemble the bio-based samples into a hanging sculpture in Mouraria Creative Hub.

Participants should wear comfortable clothing appropriate for manual activities. Samples needing extra drying time can be retrieved by the participants during the following week.

During the afternoon, we invite festival participants to assemble some of the bio-based samples developed during the workshop into a hanging sculpture in the venue’s exterior space. With this collaborative composition, we explore one possible artistic application for waste-based materials and during the assembly, we will spark discussion about other ways that these types of materials can be applied in our urban environments. Could we mould these waste-based materials into different shapes for specific applications for architecture, furniture, toys or packaging?

Bagaceira Project is a material research and design initiative that explores how sugarcane waste (bagasse) can be transformed into materials for the built environment. This abundant fibrous byproduct, collected from restaurants or sugar refineries, can be modified and mixed with natural binders and additives to achieve a variety of different material outcomes for diverse applications for interior design, architecture and beyond.