The Closed Loop
The name the “Closed Loop” originated from something called The “Closed Loop Experiment”. It was an industrial design research project I started when I studied abroad in Lund, Sweden from February-June of 2009 where I reduced by trash output to zero. Basically, I didn’t take out the trash for 5 months and analyzed why so many designers design products that end up in landfills. Now Closed Loop it is turning into a one-woman-consulting show. I have done some environmental consulting at one company so far, but am hoping to build up some clients.
When I grow up I would like to do industrial design research pertaining to sustainable products (reaching towards “sustainable industry”…
My “Closed Loop” Logic >>
In an ideal world, every house is essentially a “closed loop”. I use the phrase “closed loop” meaning that the input = the output. (Ex- a closed electrical circuit cannot produce more than the battery power that supplies it. In a closed ecological system, any waste produced is consumed by another species).
Each house is part of a neighborhood/surrounding area that is its own closed loop. Each neighborhood area is in a state which should be another larger loop. Each state in a country, each country in a continent… until eventually the world is a closed loop. Except, right now, the world is a closed loop..and that isn’t changing. Unless we wanna go the WALL-E route and start living in space.
But if every house is an open loop for example, its output is greater than a closed system can handle, so it needs an outlet of some kind (garbage). So if houses in neighborhoods in states in countries in continents on the planet are producing a greater output in one giant open system… where is it going? After all, the earth is a closed system.
So I decided to bring this idea home, literally, to really understand it. For the 5 months that I spent in Sweden, I lived by the “Closed Loop Experiment”.
Rules of the “Closed Loop Experiment”:
Rule 1: Waste = food
+ Everything brought into my apartment stays in my apartment except things that biodegrade and can directly return to the earth (ex-food, compost)
Rule 2: Take in the trash
+ Never take out the trash.
Rule 3: Recycle
+ Things that can be recycled locally like paper, plastics, and aluminum can be taken out of the apartment once a month.
Rule 4: Repurpose
+ Only recycle things that cannot be used again! Always try to re-use anything before throwing it in the trash or recycling bin.
Check out Archives for February through June for direct results of the “Closed Loop Experiment”!
Here are 2 PDFs I presented to my class showing my ideas and progress:
to help you kick things off, here is my comment
5 months will you sustain all the trash?
I work as community development assistant and am looking for soultions for dealing with trash at local level (smalll communities).
good luck!
Hi Ankica >> thanks for checking out my project. Yes, i will keep all of the trash. However, anything made out of food that can be used as compost will be composted in an outdoor garden. everything else that does not biodegrade or cannot be recycled will stay in my apartment.
what you do really interests me! It seems like a challenging but worthwhile task. What solutions have you discovered so far? I would be interested to hear.
I, for one, am all for going the Wall-e route and living in space.
In any case, this sounds interesting and indeed quite the challenge. I look forward to reading more !
Hey..very interesting perspective of looking at sustainability. Best of luck.
The article is ver good. Write please more
Hi Krystal. It’s nice to someone else out there thinking like me. I can already see you’re going to have a few problems with your compost, and please don’t burn anything! I know municipal waste depots incinerate trash, all Tokyo’s trash is incinerated at satellite plants dotted across the city. It is important to point out that this is done at extremely high temperatures not able to be recreated at home. This means at home you’ll be liberating and facilitatiog many compounds harmful to life. Best thing to do is sort it, consolidate it with the neighbourhood, and bury it. Then when its economic to re-process in the future, it can be “mined”. You couldn’t get a politician to understand that!
Cheers, and thanks for the effort!
I definitely agree with the cause for going green. It’s just crazy to me that the worse things get the less people seem to care.
That’s terrific and very well thought out.Usually I won’t make posts on post on blogs, but I have to say that this blog really made me want to. Really nice bit of insight
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Thanks. I liked your post, do you have more like this? The topic needs lots of research, most people don’t have it.