circular economy

A circular economy is a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimised by slowing, closing, and narrowing material and energy loops. This can be achieved through long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recycling. This is contrast to a linear economy which is a 'take, make, dispose' model of production.

 

15-03-2019

3D printing with recycled plastic

Where would we be without plastic? The Social Tech Tour visited vanPlestik, that uses 100% recycled plastic for 3D printer filament.

 

27-02-2019

How can we create fair and sustainable urban food systems?

The first stop of the Social Tech Tour tour brought us to OneFarm at A Lab in the North of Amsterdam. Isabella reports.

 

12-01-2019

Experimenting with alternative textiles

No lack of attention for the people of our TextileLab. They are now featured in a video of circular platform Circl in Amsterdam.

 

7-11-2018

BioPlastics workshop at Waag

Students of the Master Industrial Design (MID) programme at the KABK have followed a BioPlastics workshop in the Waag.

 

1-11-2018

Fairphone: growth brings new ethical dilemmas

A fine two-page portrait of Eva Couwens and Bas van Abel of Fairphone in the Dutch newspaper Trouw.

 

26-04-2018

Digging into the recycled material chains

Fairphone announces a research on the challenges associated with sourcing recycled materials in the electronics industry.

 

2-01-2018

phonvert : Repurposing retired smartphones with AI

At the 'phonvert' workshop held in Waag on December 7th 2017, we did an ideation session to “phonvert” retired smartphones with AI.

 

24-12-2017

'On dialogue' - a few words about 2017

This has been a tough year for those who believe in the good in people. But there are a few positive notes, says Marleen Stikker.

 

10-11-2017

Planet B: How doughnuts and mushrooms inspire the future of Fab Labs

As the means of digital fabrication become mainstream, the challenge of the maker movement lies in defining its values of sustainability, openness and critical making more visibly, says Marleen Stikker at the celebration of a decade of Fablab Amsterdam.

 

6-10-2017

Metaal Kathedraal, or how to do things differently

I was asked to give a talk about Waag at the so-called Metaal Kathedraal; a former church that once also acted as metal factory and which is now a cultural and ecological breeding ground at the edge of Utrecht.

 

19-11-2016

Smart meter saves less energy then expected

From a recent Dutch research it shows that households that have a smart meter installed save less energy than was expected.

 

31-10-2016

Recycling Award for students TU Delft

Six students of the TU Delft have won the ‘BouwRecycling Award’ with their research. The students were commissioned by AEB Amsterdam, TU Delft and Waag.

 

23-08-2016

Big questions about food security

Food is one of humanity's primary needs—something that connects everyone. Because our food touches on almost all the social and environmental issues of our time, it's one of the most complex subjects you can broach. Food security, meaning sufficient amounts of nutritious food for a growing world population, is one of the greatest challenges our generations will face.

 

21-04-2016

FabCity: an impression

The FabCity campus in Amsterdam showed many practical examples of sustainable housing.

 

21-04-2016

Innovation: from the state or from the street?

At the recent Dutch Innovation Expo, the society was nearly invisible. Are we using the ability to innovate of the society itself to its full extent? Should we not change our innovation policy?

 

18-01-2016

Urban Pulse animation

For the Urban Pulse project, Waag made an animation video. Urban Pulse is one of the kickstart projects of AMS. Urban Pulse generates the knowledge required to build sustainability strategies for energy, water, food, and natural resources in the city.

 

21-09-2015

Infento adjustable bike

A smart Dutch invention for everyone with (young) children: a bike that easily transforms from a tricycle into a step into a first bicycle.

 

18-03-2016

Recycled 3D printer filament?

3D printers, like the Ultimakers we have in our Fablab, use a kind of plastic to create objects, usually PLA, which is biodegradable and is derived from renewable resources.

 

16-02-2015

Food, Lies, and The Scientific Method

A recent article by Eliza Barclay on NPR's food blog, The Salt, entitled “We Lie About What We Eat, And It's Messing Up Science” discusses the fallibility of self-reported information regarding food intake and the impact of incorrect information on science.

 

2-02-2015

Green Deal presents report on Resources Identification Tool

Cleantech development firm Metabolic delivered its report on a Resources Identification Tool for the new Dutch smart meter. The report was funded by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and forms part of the Green Deal Fair Meter.

 

14-01-2015

Save the world - eat less meat

Greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector are estimated to account for 14.5 per cent of the global total.

 

27-08-2014

A dive in textiles

The whole Nieuwmarkt square will be transformed into a world of textiles. But, what makes it extra special?

 

14-03-2014

The footprint of the Internet

The Internet comes with an enormous physical footprint. All our mails, webpages, tweets, and apps are using datacenters where numerous computers and hard disks are constantly humming. In that process they heat up and have to be cooled with giant airconditioning systems. The energy that is annually consumed by datacenters is huge and growing rapidly.

 

7-11-2013

Bas van Abel at TEDxAmsterdam

On 6 November 2013, Bas van Abel of Fairphone was guest at TEDxAmsterdam. “If you screw up the screws with your screwdriver, you’re screwed”. By trying to open the Nintendo DS of his son, Bas van Abel discovered how hard it is to find out how and by who a lot of our products are made. He tells the story about how this process inspired him to embark on a journey to create the first Fairphone.

 

29-10-2013

Economy of Humans

For far too long we have violently pursued things we don’t need. Too long we have equated a busy life with a meaningful one, a career with righteous self-esteem. Too long we have put ourselves in the centre of our lives, the only thing that really matters to us – but does it?

 

19-06-2012

Can't be expanded, can't be repaired

The new MacBook Pro with a 'Retina' display: it is not upgradable, and can't be repaired. Not very sustainable.