Yum design collects plastic from de Canary coast to create long life expectancy furniture
The Canary Islands are constantly receiving plastic from Northern sea currents. Yum design collects plastic from de Canary coast, mainly single-use plastic, to create long life expectancy and high-quality furniture. This plastic is mixed with a small amount of domestic single-use plastic to ensure an optimum furniture finishing. Our furniture demonstrates that ocean plastic can be used for a purpose that matches better with plastic properties.
Regional
Spain
Canary Islands
Mainly rural
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-09-01
As an individual
First name: humberto Last name: iess marrero Gender: Male Nationality: Spain If relevant, please select your other nationality: Spain Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Calle Fuente 4, Floor 2 Town: Las Palmas Postal code: 35002 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34680490110 E-mail:humbertoiessm@gmail.com Website:https://yumdesign.es/
Plastic production increases each year. Plastic properties and price are the main causes for its mass production and use. Different plastic types and properties makes difficult its separation and consequently, its recycling. The Canary Islands are a constant rubbish receiver, even plastic from the USA coast reaches our coasts.
Imports and exports are geographically challenging in a location like the Canary Islands and nearby archipelagos. Management of waste and resources are crucial for sustainability and economic success of the islands.
Our recycling process begins with the cleaning of the shoreline. Additionally, twice a month there are underwater cleanups. First, we start with research of the areas where most garbage accumulates. The worst locations are our regular cleanup points. We collect everything that doesn´t belong to the coast, most of it: single-use plastic. Different plastics such as PP, HDPE and bottles with air trapped, floats until it gets to the shoreline. Our main plastic resource comes just from bottle taps and similar single-use plastics, mostly made from PP. This plastic usually arrives cleaned. Due to our regular plastic pickups, UV exposure doesn’t damage enough plastic properties. Just some water is needed to remove sand and salt. Finally, plastic gets dried and shredded to be used.
For now, Yum Design produces a 100gr coat rack sold in pairs. Our main colors are white/grey, black, pink and blue. We also have a special series with mixed unique colors. Other furniture will be soon launched, until then, our hanger shows a sneak peek of Yum Design´s philosophy and ambition to make a change. We do not only offer sustainable products, but also sustainable packaging. Our products are sold across Europe using free plastic, efficient recycled packaging with a double functionality that extends material life.
Waste management
Education
Ocean conservation
Plastic reduction
Transparent communication
Yum design uses waste origin as an extra value. We provide a second life to single-use plastic that remains in the coast and shoreline. Plastic waste has now an economic value and its origin it’s also an attribute for our furniture. We decide to produce furniture because they offer a long-life expectancy and a high volume of plastic waste recycled per unit. This plastic is out of our economy system, no one has interest on it and becomes part of the natural environment degrading into micro plastics until it’s impossible to collect. In our cleanups, we collect everything that doesn´t form part of nature. We re-introduce the plastic in the market as a product with a life expectancy that matches better plastic life and a design that different from its cheap, functional and short life of its antecessor: the single-use plastic.
Product packaging has always been a great obstacle in sustainable products. In Yum design we try to reduce our impact in our furniture packaging. Everything used has a second life after transport. The exterior box has several components that are normally produced separately. Our recycled box merges the guarantee, instructions, sustainable tips and screw supports. Also, in the same box there is cardboard guide with the exact measure and depths of the screws, to provide an easier and user-friendly installation. Less is better and with one box we can cover everything needed.
Another objective as a brand is also to avoid throwing packaging at the end of its use as transport. That’s why the hangers are protected during transport with a cloth bag. This cloth bag has a double use: as a sand filter whenever you decide to clean the shoreline and recollect micro plastic, or as a day to day cloth bag.
Main parts of our benefits are donated to other sustainable projects. For example, 2022 benefits have been used to plant trees in the Canary Islands to reduce our CO2 footprint produced during production, packaging and transportation.
Yum design Instagram is our main communication channel, our brand has grown with the opinion of people from all parts of the world. In yum design`s Instagram and in yumdesign.es we offer free information about sustainable topics: how to recycle properly, what kind of plastic exists, how to separate them, packaging recycling process, what type of food is more sustainable, how to make a life cycle analysis…etc Our videos are based in scientific articles and in first-hand Sustainability PHDs expert interviews. Organizations specialized on plastic waste, work with us in the execution of several videos and participated actively in interviews that are posted in our Instagram with free access to everyone. Our emphasis in uploading educational videos has a unique purpose that is to provide knowledge for future changes in viewer’s habits towards sustainability. Also, we think it’s really important to differentiate between real friendly ambient projects and green washing projects, very popular during the last years.
As a brand, we expose Canary beaches filled with inconceivable rubbish for our islands, having into account tourism is our first source of income. All this encourages others to make a better for our coast through cleanup meetings, by changing consumer habits to a more sustainable and by putting social pressure over waste management in our coastline.
Our product shape, concept designs or actual products, evoke circularity, meaning there aren´t sharp ends or corners. Characteristic wavy finishes are endless, you can follow a line in a close cycle or that finishes again in the furniture. All our designs are inspired in that circularity needed in the current industrial world.
Transparency as a brand is very important for us, we like to show our cleanups and manufacturing processes, to demonstrate the value of our product. Encouraging others to do the same recycling techniques or simply by cleaning garbage from any natural environment where it doesn´t belong.
Due to its geographic location, the Canary Islands is not a very attractive place for international companies. Even tough in the Canary Islands exists a low tax policy for companies, this isn´t enough to reduce the low employment suffered here. The lack of industry pushes most qualified profiles to locations with better job offer and higher salaries.
2022 statistics talk about over 42,27% of unemployment in people under 25 years and a total of 17,7%. Spain has the worst unemployment statistics of Europe and the Canary Islands stands in second place within Spain, just after Andalucía, with a 1,3%.
As a contrary to other companies, Yum Design must be in a location with constant arrival of waste from the ocean. Yum design is an opportunity to impulse Canary Island in its strengths and make the islands a reference in circular economy matter.
Yum Design organizes and executes beach and underwater cleanups regularly. We count with new and usual volunteers that are instructed in the different waste types and the steps in producing our furniture. People are aware about actual plastic problem and persuade friends and families to the next cleanup.
Population distribution in the Canary Islands leads to several cleanup organization in each of the islands. They usually operate under altruist donations that often don’t cover operational costs. Yum Design provides de possibility to take profit of altruist cleanups and cover expenses. This offer is open to any one that can send us clean plastic collected from Canary beaches to our HQ in Gran Canaria. This action will help anyone with economic difficulties as they can have an extra income.
We have carried out beach cleanups since the beginning of the projects. Although there are bigger clean-up organizations in Gran Canaria, there are always volunteers who join these different types of cleanups as well as their purpose. They are an active part of the production process of our furniture. We explain to the volunteers the manufacturing process of the furniture, how to make the beach cleanup safely and the different types of waste that can be found and how to separate them.
Yum design started and continues in the Canary Islands. Canary people have a strong connection with the ocean and that is the reason we carry out underwater cleanups. A group of regular volunteers help us in freediving cleanups along the coast of Gran Canaria. Although these cleanups do not have as much environmental impact, since garbage found is less than on the shoreline, these cleanups are a better experience, resulting in also a better diffusion in our networks.
All the designs, video themes and even colors of our products have been voted among our followers. We are the result of a constant vote and that is why we continue to succeed in this environment.
Yum design it’s a project internally and individually developed with no stakeholder interested in it until the idea was officially launched. Many local, national and international press rapidly contact us.
Although the project its mainly develop by Yum design, other stakeholders form part as technical external consultants. Precious plastic GC its an active component of our hanger’s development. Our packaging its also develop by our expertise in Barcelona. The cloth bag and the multifunctional box are developed by small familiar companies that advise us in technical aspect we can´t solve.
Finally Canary clean organizations are an important ecosystem that in a future will provide us constant clean plastic. Their work its necessary to ensure high volume furniture like chairs or tables that could recycle between 15 and 20 kg each. Some organization clean one ton of waste per day. Giving and actual use to this waste is also rewarding for this cleanup organizations, tired of endless cleanups that destroy Canary landscape.
Yum Design was looking forward making plastic sea waste a valuable product. The origin of this material could increase its market price. Some companies sell globally shoreline collected plastic, and its origin is an advantage that other brands use to come closer to a more environmental line. Consequently, this brands with non-sustainable experience normally create non-recyclable or environmental harmful products, (in addition, they produce in mass which goes against sustainability).
Yum Design knows the recycling process and that is why we’ve decided to focus on well-designed furniture. Our designs are single-material furniture that could be recycled repeatedly, with no need to separate any component. Furniture provides us a great platform to extend the life of the material. Furniture is not affected by seasonal trends unlike textile industry, or technological obsolescence that shortens the life of the product. But behind all this there must be a brand that with a story-telling and that can prove the environmentally usefulness over non-recycled plastic. To demonstrate material properties, furniture shape are crucial. We want to avoid using typical images of recycled products. Yum design uses complex geometries and colorful tones. Our path has been directed by our main objectives, to recycle as much as possible and to teach others that recycling does not mean poor quality material or simple designs.
Island communities such as the Azores, Cape Verde or the Canary Islands has geographical disadvantages at an industrial level and at the same time has advantages in the tourism industry. Normally this industry is the largest of islands with these weather characteristics. Increasingly plastic production puts in danger the tourism that seeks virgin dream beach vacations. Plastic presence is increasing in our coasts and harms our fauna.Yum design fights against the presence of waste providing an economic value that will connect tourism with furniture of its lodging.
Our production and public furniture sale began in June 2022 and until today 20 pairs of hanger’s, equivalent to 2000 bottle caps are on the market. We have another 20 pairs of extra hangers in stock, always produced under demand to make production more sustainable. Right now, another 3 products for the bathroom and kitchen are designed and will start production soon. Each of these new products will be equivalent to 50 recycled bottle caps. Gran Canaria is our work base where we keep in touch with local cleaning associations. We also stay in touch with other groups on the island of Tenerife. Yum Design has collected approximately 1,000 kg of waste in 2022 (high percentage of it was plastic waste), this is more plastic than needed for our actual production. The rest of the waste was sent to its corresponding recycling point.
We don´t only care about plastic waste that arrives to our coast. Some of our profit is donated to a tree plant organization on the island of Gran Canaria, to minimize the carbon footprint created on the shredded of plastic, the manufacture of the hangers and their shipping. Our packaging is produced in Barcelona where we have our distribution point for the peninsula and to reduce the footprint of shipments to Europe. Part of the material is sent to the Canary Islands for regional orders.
Our social media it’s an important part of Yum Design. Yum Design has more than 100,000 views on Instagram videos about recycling. On these videos, we explain different environmental issues in a simple way, based on scientific articles and interviews with specialists. For Yum Design, the videos we produce are an important part of the brand, they provide knowledge, help many to lead a more sustainable life and express the problems that our islands are facing today, within other matters.
Innovation comes from introducing aesthetics in a sector where it has not been done before. The value of the residue from the sea wasn’t enough to make it commercially viable. Just a simple and well-design product is needed. We offer the best sustainable way of consuming furniture in every step since the design until end use. Best compact multiple use packaging, best option for a protection during transport design to clean sand easier and a long life mono-material hanger, that can be recycled easily. Frequent cleanups, also underwater, and finance of other sustainable project, proves yum design interest on been an example for other brands.
Transparency it is also the key issue to be an example to other companies. In our global world its really easy to buy plastic collected from the ocean. Companies uses suppliers’ ocean plastic to sell their products as planet saviors with no real sustainable action taken from the brand.
Gran Canaria has been the initial location decide before we start the project. Our deeply rotted to the island impulse the project. We want to create something that improves our landscapes and Canary citizens life.
Our Islands has a history surrounded by sea. With 1583 km of coast in only 7447 km2 of total area, jobs and leisure are oriented to sea.
Last years plastic arrival to our coast has increase the volunteer organization occupied in cleaning the coast. All organization had an initial growth in social media that brings volunteers to the first cleanups. We notice that activity of cleanup organizations drops during time. In the other hand some Canary artists realized works with beach waste. These works are sold expensively and remarking the origin of this materials.
That’s how we decide to use the increment of plastic arrival to our coast and take advantage in the interest of an object and use its origin.
To make a product that has as real change in our coast we need a high-volume plastic recycled object and a good economic incentive for a constant coast clean.
Design furniture provide us both things. Our designs had always same texture and circular concept. But final designs of the different furniture types, like chairs or tables, were voted in our social media.
As we mentioned before, it is possible to share knowledge with areas that have the same problems and tourist condition to find the same solution based on the circular economy. Transfer the business model using plastic to create products for a tourist market and close the cycle. Azores, Madeira or Cabo Verde are areas that can replicate our plastic furniture’s. Benefit from waste its more necessary with our geographic conditions. Other wastes like organic should be used to impulse local business to create local jobs. This will increase the diversity of qualification creating different industrial sectors. Economy of these islands won´t depend exclusively on tourism that is temporary and precarious.
Our difference from other furniture companies is mainly because our location. We find ourselves in an environment that is repeated in all parts of the world, geographically separated touristic archipelagos with an abundance of current-driven sea plastic. In Macaronesia, this issue is a very outstanding one. Our work can be replicated in these areas that usually share similar unemployment statistics, little industry due to logistics, a great dependence on tourism and a high arrival of waste by sea. Think tourism and waste management as one.
Not only we can focus in plastic waste, but also in other waste advantages and its use to impulse local benefits for the tourism. A new industrial sector creation, be a investigation and researcher reference to bigger cities waste managements.
