AWARD YEAR
2023
CATEGORY
Body
GOALS
Good Health & Well-being
KEYWORDS
plastic bottles , Lifejacket, floodings, flood defence, children's health
COUNTRY
United Kingdom
DESIGNED BY
Ewan Morrell
WEBSITE
https://designforindustry.online/Ewan-Morrell
Bot lifejacket
Using plastic waste to prevent drownings in floods
How does it work?
People in flood-prone low-income countries can use discarded plastic bottles as flotation devices with the Bot lifejacket. Waste plastic bottles are then inserted in pockets to provide buoyancy to the life jacket.
Almost any fabric can be used to sew the Bot and makes Bot compact for easy distribution. The vest on its own rolls up to a size smaller than a 500-millimetre bottle, so it could be packaged within a multipack of bottles for distribution.
Bot can be made using a single sewing machine and six patterns, and is secured using a low-cost buckle. This could also be further simplified with two straps or a belt that can be tied in a knot instead.
Why is it needed?
The Bot is a life jacket designed to reduce the fatality rates in Southeast Asian countries caused by flooding. Here, it is the leading cause of death for children under 5 years and in Bangladesh it kills on average 50 children a day.
The jacket has been designed to be accessible to as many people as possible. It makes use of local manufacturers, that exploit these countries for their cheap labour, by using their discarded material in its construction.
How does it improve life?
A key part of Morrell's design is that it involves the large fast fashion companies that manufacture in the region. They would make and distribute the Bot lifejackets on a charitable basis, using their fabric waste.
According to Morrell, these companies currently tend to burn their waste material, to the detriment of the environment, or to sell it cheaply for insulation. By comparison, Bot represents a high-value solution that could cost the companies minimally.