Miniwiz’s Circular Model of Design and Development: High Time to Adopt it, Mumbai?

The problem, they point out, is not with the use of plastic but with the way it is disposed of after use. Banning plastics, therefore, would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater – we would be robbed of the advantages of a wonder material with hugely pervasive applications and also would destroy a strongly established, employment generating, manufacturing industry, and veritably punching ‘Make in India’ in the face! So, what could be the right approach? It would be to focus on methods of avoiding a plastic dump on the environment, i.e. its harmless disposal after use.

This is where firms like Taipei based Miniwiz come into the picture by offering potentially game-changing systems of manufacturing and development for us and the rest of the world to adopt and emulate, based on a circular economy. As opposed to the linear economic model of ‘manufacture-use-dispose’ which not only creates a toxic graveyard of waste in the environment but also depletes the cradle of resources, a circular economy works from cradle-to-cradle based on the model of ‘manufacture-use-repair-reuse/ regenerate’ where materials and resources keep constantly circulating in the system without needing to be disposed. In fact, a truly comprehensive circular system ensures that the biological material components of a trashed product go back to their natural source to get re-routed into the manufacturing system, the technical/ manmade materials get reused and even the energy consumed gets regenerated. 

This system goes well beyond getting school children to take an oath to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ and getting households and businesses to segregate their waste and tap alternative energy sources. It requires all cogs in the economic wheel to participate in sync in a comprehensively designed system that delivers a leak-proof zero waste process of manufacture and consumption. Such practices, though isolated and small in scale, have been adopted at several places around the world – the task of scaling them up and applying them pervasively remains. One such practitioner is Miniwiz in Taipei, which has successfully applied the circular model in areas like architecture and design, besides manufacturing solutions in consumer goods, transportation, and furniture.

Founded by architect Arthur Huang and structural engineer Jarvis Liu in 2005, Miniwiz’s most important asset and contribution is their ‘Trash Lab’- a research unit which analyses different components of everyday waste for the last thirteen years and has invented 1000 new materials, products and applications using these. They ensure each product and process they create is scalable and can be integrated into the industry which chooses to adopt them. Their own range of products and applications is fascinating in the potential it displays to upcycle various types of waste into usable materials and applications. 

Attempting to marry eco-consciousness and sustainability with economic feasibility, their first breakthrough product was the HYMini – a solar/ wind/ hand-crank operated energy generating charging device made entirely of used plastic/ paper/ aluminium waste in 2007, which has led to multitudes of new products and applications thereon. To put it in their own words, ‘Miniwiz conceives, innovates, develops and executes a project for a brand, business, institutions, and governments at every step of their respective supply chains, to ensure total operational efficiency.’

Among their ‘build modules’ they have Eco-morph Shelving Systems which is a modular storage system using LED light embedded joinery to make different shelving configurations with polycarbonate boards made entirely from used DVDs. Or they have the Polli-Ber Brick Wall System which uses bricks made from waste PC or PS from lenses, water containers or corrugated roof sheets and has mortarless mechanically interlocking joints which lend amazing flexibility to wall shapes.

Partnering with 20 international architects, Miniwiz has been able to deliver path-breaking buildings based on regenerated waste, the latest and hottest being the ‘House of Trash’ where every single item is designed and produced from recycled waste. Their nine storey EcoARK expo park building in Taipei, Taiwan, that used Polli-Ber bricks made largely of plastic bottles has attracted several awards, featured among National Geographic’s Megastructures and has been hailed as a benchmark for future green buildings all over the world. 

Miniwiz has even created the world’s first mobile re-cycling plant fondly named the ‘TrashPresso’! Would not such an established tried and tested solution provider merit more attention and emulation from conscientious manufacturers and consumers in other parts of the world? What say, Mumbai?!