Ants don’t have traffic jams and other things that we can learn from nature that can improve our world.
I discovered that, and many other interesting ways nature can inform our daily lives by learning about Biomimicry. Biomimicry is defined as “the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes.”
Basic principles are;
Nature runs on sunlight.
Nature uses only the energy it needs.
Nature fits form to function.
Nature recycles everything.
Nature rewards cooperation.
Nature banks on diversity.
Nature demands local expertise.
Nature curbs excesses from within.
Nature taps the power of limits.
All types of design and infrastructure challenges we deal with daily, have the potential to be solved with this inspiration from nature.This lead me to use the theories of Biomimicry as a potential solution to non-recyclable retail food packaging. I landed on an opportunity to explore and do a design study of Patagonia Provisions packaging.
Patagonia's brand is mainly associated with Outdoor wear and gear, however they have become involved in the sustainable food space in recent years.
I have spent the last few years researching what can be done about non-recyclable food packaging, plastic stand-up pouches in particular. Most discouraging is the majority of sustainably procured fish and produce that is packaged in unsustainable packaging.
If you wander the isles of retailers that cater to the outdoors person snacks and food options, most are in non-recyclable packaging. And most of these consumers don’t really know that.
I thought Patagonia brings a unique set of production capabilities to the problem of non-sustainable, non-recyclable existing food packaging.
They work in textiles and fabrication of sustainable materials, and their company’s environmental awareness opened up some manufacturing possibilities that perhaps solely a food manufacturer would not possess.
Here is the conclusion of this research.