Mapping the Wasteshed

Mapping the Anthropocentric fibershed:re/sourcing waste as raw material for textile production and coloration  (funded by UD Center for Food Systems and Sustainability (CENFOODS)

According to the USDA term "sustainable agriculture" means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term, satisfy human food and fiber needs. 

This exploratory research will focus on fiber needs. Textile and apparel represent one of the most globalized industries which can have negative impacts on the environment and social equity.

Project Description: Although not yet an official era, the term Anthropocene reflects the ways in which human activity has become a world shaping force, and highlights the urgent need for planetary stewardship to ensure a sustainable future for human society and the nonhuman world (Payne, 2019). 

In the quest to find sustainable alternatives within the fashion supply chain, fibersheds have become a source of serious inquiry. The concept of afibershed is “focused on the source of the raw material, the transparency with which it is converted into clothing, and the connectivity among all parts, from soil to skin and back to soil” (Burgess & White, 2019). As virgin resources grow more scarce, there is economic incentive to view bi-products and waste as a potential resource and raw material. This research will use locally sourced waste-materials from surrounding areas to develop noveltextiles and textile colorations. The study expands the notion of “fibershed” identifying waste as a raw material, demonstrating (through waste-led design) that local production that applies waste as value can be a sustainable development strategy with economic, environmental, and social benefits.

Research Approach & Experimental Design. Researchers will map the regional wasteshed, and investigate waste processing. In the lab, researchers will develop manufacturing stations capable of developing reproducible procedures. For textile production and coloration. Analysis of textile production and coloration processes will be compared for technical feasibility and cradle-to-cradle impacts. To assess prototype development, researchers will evaluate consumers’ acceptance and social, economic and environmental outcomes of the products, and conduct acosting exercise (via focus group) to determine acceptable prices.

Alignment with CENFOODS This project aligns with CENFOODS Sustainability platform as it explores cradle to cradle concepts, guided by the definition of sustainable development to meet the needs of the current generation without compromising the needs of future generations. Ideally, there would be no waste, but since there is-we must figure out a way to maximize embodied energy, 

As part of this CENFOODS undergraduate apprentices will  develop protocol/IRB and understand research ethics. I will co-author design artifacts for juried internationalexhibition, co-author a scholarly article for publishing. Findings from this study offer pre-pilot data the research team will apply towards funding opportunities through bodies such as EPA and USDA/NIFA. 

ReferencesBurgess, R., & White, C. (2019). Fibershed: Growing a movement of farmers, fashion activists, and makers for a new textile economy. Chelsea Green Publishing.

Payne, A. (2019) Fashion Futuring in the Anthropocene: Sustainable Fashion as “Taming” and “Rewilding”, Fashion Theory, 23:1, 5-23, DOI: 10.1080/1362704X.2017.1374097