In a bid to cut down on commercial installation waste, zero-waste advocate and visionary behind Future Food Systems Joost Bakker, has teamed up with outdoor lifestyle brand, Kathmandu, to bring to life a sustainable installation in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD.

Driven by making a difference to the world, Bakker’s innovations in building materials and pioneering ideas have seen him embark on many ambitious projects underscored with the same fundamental notion - zero-waste systems inspired by nature.

“You don’t need a grand idea to change the world. I believe the biggest opportunity for us to make radical change is changing how we live, and fashion consumption is a huge part of that,” says Joost Bakker.

Bakker’s latest collaborative project involves a 3m x 9m tunnel created using a modified steel skeleton recycled from Bakker’s previous installations - which can be dismantled and reused for future projects as a circular material. Covering the steel skeleton is a skin made from off-cuts of agricultural plastics that will be used at the end of this project as a greenhouse cover.

“Best of all, the installation skin can now be completely recycled at the end of its life by polymer processors in Melbourne, then made back into the same material for another life,” says Bakker.

Within the walls of the structure sits over 3,000kgs of recycled fashion sourced from Upparel - giving visual representation to the staggering amount of fashion discarded by Australian’s every 5 minutes.

Ensuring the project was kept as local as possible, all work and materials used in the making of the installation were completed and sourced within metropolitan Melbourne.

“Joost Bakker’s vision of a world without waste mirrors Kathmandu’s values and our aim with BioDown, we couldn’t think of a better advocate to collaborate with on this meaningful project,” says Eva Barrett, Chief Customer Officer at Kathmandu.

Image: Supplied

Branko Miletic

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