AWARD YEAR
2023
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Sustainable Cities & Communities, Responsible Consumption & Production, Climate Action, Partnerships for the Goals, Trust, Tolerance & Empathy
KEYWORDS
textile innovation, material science, climate positive, textile revolution, material engineering
COUNTRY
Netherlands
DESIGNED BY
Zsofia Kollar
WEBSITE
https://www.humanmaterialloop.com
Human Material Loop
Biggest revolution of humankind.
How does it work?
Human Material Loop is a material innovation company focusing on the utilization of waste keratin protein fiber, and hair to develop high-performing materials for the textile industry with zero negative impact on the environment, Together with scientists and engineers a technology is developed to process waste keratin fibers from hair salons. Infrastructure is created to design the most efficient waste flow from hair salons and with a plug-in solution already existing factories can process the raw material.
Why is it needed?
It is no secret the textile and fashion industry is the second largest polluter in today’s world. The current system cannot operate the way it does now, if we want to maintain this planet for future generations, we do not only need to alter our supply chains but we need radical changes. The largest portion of emissions arises from the cultivation of raw materials and transport.
Since 2020 began, supply chains worldwide have become increasingly unstable and vulnerable. The supply of raw materials has faltered, and businesses across Europe are suffering the consequences. The lack of available raw material combined with high demand has dramatic consequences: The supply can no longer be fully guaranteed in parts of the production. In some cases, these supply bottlenecks even lead to the temporary shutdown of production plants.
How does it improve life?
Every technology that has been created served the comfort of humanity, every disruption of the ecosystem was because of our comfort - we have been selfishly exploiting everything around us, but aren’t we part of this ecosystem after all? Why do we behave that we are above this ecosystem and believe we can exploit this system endlessly. We know it long enough that we cannot operate in the way we do today, recycled polyester is still releasing microplastic to our blood and lungs,, vegan leather is still plastic, we still poision over 5 million people every year with cotton pesticides - we can believe in the fairy tale that putting a band aid to the problems will heal the problem itself, but it is your duty to look at your children’s eye to tell them, you didn’t push for a change.
Human Material Loop is the biggest revolution of humankind, because it will radically transform not just our production and supply chain, but also gives an opportunity for everybody to be part of the solution.