https://www.dezeen.com/2019/08/06/danielle-coffey-household-fat-soap-design/
[images and links in online article]
Danielle Coffey's Sápu device turns household fats into soap
Natashah Hitti
August 6, 2019
Northumbria University graduate Danielle Coffey has designed a device
that transforms oils and fats leftover from cooking into soap, to
prevent them from polluting household water systems.
Sápu, which is Icelandic for "soap", is a kitchen product that aims to
encourage homeowners to collect and repurpose their own fat, oil and
grease (FOG) waste from cooking by turning it into natural soap.
Developed as a more environmentally friendly alternative to sink
disposal methods, the project aims to address the pressing future issue
of water pollution.
The Sápu device offers a solution to the "common issue" of not knowing
what to do with cooking byproducts, which are typically washed down the
sink and contribute to water pollution or infrastructure issues such as
fatbergs.
Coffey designed the product in response to a brief set for the
university by the Room Y innovation department at British department
store John Lewis.
Students were tasked with developing a proposal that makes use of
untapped or neglected resources in the urban environment as a way of
addressing the challenges of climate change, population growth and
dwindling resources.
During her research, Coffey found that FOG blockages are responsible for
around 80 per cent of water-system issues, and approximately £100
million worth of damage to systems and the environment.
She also discovered that incorrect disposal of pollutants by households
are the biggest contributor to blockages in the water system.
Therefore, with her Sápu project, she aims to improve future water
quality by "instilling behavioural changes" that will encourage people
to correctly dispose of or reuse FOGs.
After cooking, the waste FOGs are poured into a three-part
injection-moulded polypropylene filter, which has been ultrasonically
welded together – a technique that applies high-frequency ultrasonic
acoustic vibrations to items under pressure.
The waste is filtered through non-toxic, biodegradable filter paper made
from a polysaccharide base – from a carbohydrate such as cellulose or
starch.
This then filters down into the main compartment where it is mixed with
two spoonfuls of lye (a metal hydroxide) and six spoonfuls of water.
This produces a liquid mixture that the user can personalise by adding
herbs, essential oils, rinds and seeds such as chia seeds or lavender,
before distributing it into moulds. The bars are left to solidify and
form a soap for everyday household use.
Once the moulds have been filled, the different components of the Sápu
device can be easily separated for cleaning.
The lye is kept in an injection-moulded polypropylene container with a
recycled cork topper, which features a child-proof twist cap to ensure
there is no accidental contact with the substance.
The designer hopes to develop her waste repurposing system in the future
to make edible "fat balls" for animals by adding peelings and seeds to
the soap mixture, or for plant care by adding the oil directly to soil
as fertiliser, or spraying it like a pesticide.
Coffey is not the only graduate designer to create soap in a bid for
more sustainable future. Mi Zhou from Central Saint Martins made
toiletry bottles from cast soap that melt away once they are no longer
useful.
Zhou dyed vegetable oil-based soap using natural pigments before forming
them in a mould, and lining the bottles with a thin layer of beeswax to
make them waterproof and prevent the liquid contents from dissolving the
bottles.
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