[10. Sustainable
It is environmentally friendly packaging. Packaging is sustainable if designed in a holistic way, fully balanced with the product and its ways of use, so as to optimize the overall environmental performance.
Marie Bee Bloom: a mask that can help people, and the planet, to breathe freely
Disposable or reusable, monochromatic or colorful, technical object or fashion accessory, the face mask is now an integral part of our life in the community, they accompany us every time we leave the house or meet with friends and acquaintances. Since COVID-19 began to spread globally, the mask has undoubtedly become one of the essential accessories to cope with the pandemic.
The surgical mask was born at the end of the 19th century as a protective device for the control of surgical sepsis. Used by healthcare professionals during medical procedures, it prevents airborne transmission of infections by blocking the spread of pathogens (mainly bacteria and viruses) released as respiratory droplets from the mouth and nose.
Love and hate at the same time, masks therefore protect our health, but often cause a lot of inconvenience. Sometimes they choke us, they often irritate our skin, and when we wear them we can’t wait to take them off and get rid of them. But where do they end up once removed and eliminated?
From the moment the obligation to wear them for health emergencies was introduced, we are faced with the need to manage a new source of pollution, represented by personal protective equipment (PPE).
Marianne de Groot-Pons, a designer from the Netherlands, to counter the invasion of disposable surgical masks, scattered on street corners or on beaches, created Marie Bee Bloom, a type of disposable mask, which can be planted and made ” to bloom ”after its use.
Marie Bee Bloom masks are made from rice paper and contain a mix of meadow flower seeds. According to the Dutch designer, being entirely biodegradable, after being used they can be buried, allowing the seeds contained in them to germinate and blossom.
Marianne de Groot-Pons acknowledges that her masks have not yet been tested and certified for viral transmission, but states that they are as protective as the homemade fabric versions. Furthermore, it ensures that they are manufactured responsibly and with a reduced environmental impact, as well as being fully decomposable if buried.
The cords are hand-spun from pure virgin wool, and can be tightened or loosened around the ear with a regulator made from the carton of the recovered egg packs. A potato starch and water based glue is used to connect the cords to the templates.
Marie Bee Bloom masks are available at https://mariebeebloom.com/, for now they are only shipped to the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, but the Dutch designer hopes to extend shipping to the whole world.
From a technological point of view, Marie Bee Bloom occupies a material called seed-paper, a type of paper that includes seeds inside. The seeds retain the ability to germinate after the manufacturing process of the cellulosic support and are able to germinate when such support is planted in the ground. The paper can also have different colors and textures depending on the variety of seeds used.
Seed-paper is a material that in recent years has been widely used in everyday objects – including notebooks and other articles in “plantable paper” – and, albeit with certain technical limitations and low-scale, also in cellulosic packaging to create packages with a strong symbolic and evocative value. An interesting example in this sense is the concept proposed by Bianca Pasternack for the packaging of Botanica chocolate.
In the category of everyday objects that can be planted, although not made in seed-paper but still characterized by the inclusion of seeds inside, it is also worth mentioning the sprout pencils of Sprout World.
With its wildflower seeds, the Marie Bee Bloom mask – literally “the flower of the Marie bee” – is a powerful metaphor for the opportunity to “flourish” our planet, to “give a different breath” to nature and to save not only the health of people, but also and above all of every living being on earth.
From a conceptual point of view, the project refers to the so-called “seed bombs” and guerrilla gardening, a form of green activism born in the 1970s, which takes the form of a gardening activity practiced on abandoned sites , untreated areas, or even private properties perceived as neglected by its owners.
A seed-bomb – also called a seed-ball (“ball of seeds”) – is a small “bomb” made up of a combination of compost, clay and seeds, usually flowers: compost and clay act as a support for the seeds so they can be thrown over walls or fences and into inaccessible areas such as wastelands or railways.
Seed bombing, as well as being a guerrilla gardening technique, is also used to practice active reforestation. In Kenya, for example, “seed bombs” were used experimentally to improve planting yield during the 2016 aerial reforestation.
Although it is obviously a small-scale production artisan solution, whose barrier properties should undoubtedly be verified and the effective protection from coronavirus transmission certified, the Marie Bee Bloom mask is an example of how creatively and responsibly we can contribute to resolving contemporary crises.
On the one hand, this project highlights the need to rethink an individual protective device born with other purposes (mainly preventing surgical sepsis) and intended for use in a specific context (medical field), and now transformed into a common accessory for daily use. On the other hand, it represents the opportunity that design has not only to solve a health crisis, but also the consequences of a new form of pollution.
Finally, it confirms once again that the problem of waste and more generally of the environmental crises we are facing at a global level, is not only the responsibility of packaging, especially plastic ones, accused of being one of the main causes of pollution of the seas or of global warming.
Certainly badly designed and badly used packaging is “a” problem, but not “the” problem. Crises have been and still are a human responsibility. It is therefore a question of questioning our behaviors and habits of life, and reviewing the choices we make every day as individuals and as a community, according to the survival of the planet and future generations.
