New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Project category

Identify the award category for which this project is being submitted
Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking

Email user
majahalilovicdizajn@gmail.com

Basic information
Project title
BioWastery

Full Project Title
Creative Biowaste : BIOWASTERY : Biomaterial Products

Please provide a short, catchy description of your project to be used in communication towards the public.
We are environmentalist enthusiasts who are passionate about biodegradable materials and we been working in a field of biodesign for years. We offer to you four different products completely from waste! We offer inventions - biomaterials, fuel, products, packaging - all completely from organic waste: healthy and biodegradable! We are also a group that educates about biodesign and bioart in the Balkan region.

What was the geographical scope of your project?
Regional

Where was your project implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Bosnia and Herzegovina

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
One of the partners is from Serbia.

Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly urban

Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)

Has your project benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
Yes

Which fund(s)?
Creative Europe

Here you can provide more details about the name of the specific programme, strand/action line as relevant, and the year
BIOFABRIKA 2022, European Capital of Culture Novi Sad
Collaboration with visual artist Adrienn Ujhazi within our Bio Co Culture project, whose main theme is education about bioart and biodesign in the Balkans. The program involved working with students of the Bogdan Šuput design school, where we held lectures, workshops on biodesign and taught students how to make their own biomaterials for use in the design industry. In the second part of the program, we held exhibitions and lectures on biomaterials and biodesign for the general public. In the third part of the program, we held discussions with colleagues in the fields of art, science, and technology about the incorporation of biodesign, bioart, and ecology within our professions.

Has your project won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Is your project fully completed
Yes

Please indicate a date (mm/yy)
2022-11-01

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual in partnership with other persons
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project).
- First name: Maja
  Last name: Halilović
  Gender: Female
  Nationality: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  If relevant, please select your other nationality: Serbia
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Mandrina 13a
  Town: Sarajevo
  Postal code: 71000
  Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Direct Tel: +387 65 707-865
  E-mail: majahalilovicdizajn@gmail.com
  Website: http://majahalilovic.com/
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maja-halilovi%C4%87-077461260/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #biomaterials #biodesign #packaginginnovations #materialinnovation #biomanufacturing #education
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/majabiodesigner/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #biomaterials #biodesign #packaginginnovations #materialinnovation #biomanufacturing #education #zerowaste
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/biococulture/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #biomaterials #biodesign #bioart #materialinnovation #science #scoby #bacteria #education
- URL: https://www.youtube.com/@biococulture5986/videos
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #biomaterials #biodesign #bioart #materialinnovation #biomanufacturing #science #scoby #bacteria #education
In case my project is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my project in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Social Media

Description of the project
Please provide a summary of your project.
Within our project: we collect organic waste, mostly coffee waste and eggshells, with the community, coffee chains in the Sarajevo area. Through innovation and research, we use this waste to create biomaterials from which we design items for the home: from vases to candle holders. We also make biodegradable packaging. Coffee waste is also intended for the production of biopellets for heating devices for the markets of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, initially.
We also educate people about new innovative biomaterials so that we make trusting relationship with our fellow citizens, and have smooth transition from plastic packaging and products to healthy biodegradable ones.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words.
Innovation, research, production of biomaterials from organic waste (eggshells, coffee waste) and use for designer items.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Biopellets from coffee waste.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Waste collecting.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Biomanufacture of home decor and biopackaging.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Education, workshops, discussions on biomaterials, biodesign and bioart.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Our entire project, from the philosophy to the work process and the final product, is based on sustainability, zero-waste, and also respect for human rights.
We offer new sources of energy that are completely healthy for the environment and for all living beings completely from waste! In Bosnia and Herzegovina, households are heated with coal, wood, lignite, which is one of the reasons why the air is polluted during the winter. 14,000 kilotons of coal, 1,300,000 m³ of firewood per year - The price of energy products is around €500 for one winter and prices rise once a year. But with coffee waste pellets CO2 emissions are reduced 80%. 22 million kilograms of coffee end up at landfill, we can change that!
The biomaterials used for the design products are biodegradable in just a few days and every customer can bury it in their garden, in the ground, when they no longer want to use the product or when it has reached the end of its useful life.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Our biomaterials offer a completely new experience that is interesting and exciting for people. Our materials have never been in the industry until now, and they arrive at our premises precisely for our people, from them, with us. We have already formed a group of citizens who collect waste out of their own free will and because it is interesting to see how their waste is turned into products that they can use.
Coffee is a big part of our culture, and we, together with the people of Serbia, drink large quantities, and we can not only prevent these quantities from going to the landfill, but also from becoming aesthetic quality and necessary products for the community. Many of our people collect eggshells as fertilizer for their gardens, many people in our area base their breakfast and desserts on the use of eggs, and through our research and collection we discovered that eggshells are one of the major organic wastes that end up in landfills, and we and the community we prevent the rejection of this waste, which becomes a very important product for them. It is very interesting for our people to own products that are made from their waste, from coffee, from eggshells. And it offers a unique experience, as you can imagine.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Building a community of collectors of coffee waste, eggshells. Network of associates from cafeterias, cafes, restaurants and hotels, pastry shops.
Citizens will have a place to hand in their own waste, for which they will receive vouchers for a discount. We are committed to respecting the intersectionality of our associates and future employees. We will especially focus on engaging people with special needs and minorities. Multidisciplinarity distinguishes our potential collaborators, and one person will have skills of several professions. Our work will require completely new ways of working: it will require technologists, engineers, biologists to think innovatively. We prevent carbon dioxide and methane from polluting the atmosphere. We do not produce waste, we use waste. All of our products are biodegradable. We use sustainable local resources. The citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina know very little about the subject
of biomaterials, and we plan to educate them about new, healthy materials that they can use in their households. By developing economic products that are for the benefit of everyone, thinking and acting environmentally conscious, we believe that in the long term this project will easily gain global significance. How to sustainably transfer all that waste? Those who are far from our factory will have the option of sending their waste via courier. We will have an online place where you can check the time and place for our courier. We'll make sure we have a location that's in the center of where most coffee is drunk to prevent fuel consumption and time management.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project
Together with citizens and civil society, we organize the collection of waste that we use in the production of biomaterials and products. How do we do it? Very organic. We announce on social media that collection day has come again and people are organizing themselves and handing over their waste to our address within the time limit that we suggest. Companies that produce waste also get involved to leave it for us towards the end of the working day, which we collect. Through this type of collection, citizens also gain insight into seeing waste from a different perspective and what kind of products we can make together. Together we take care of nature and people.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the project. Please highlight what the added value of their engagement was.
We did not have any involvement of stakeholders regarding financial investments for our biomaterials and products research.
But as far as the educational part is concerned, we cooperated with various European, regional and local organizations.
Only highlighted:
IOM: we educated migrants and local people about recycling, biomaterials, biotechnologies within design and created a collection that used upcycle, recycle methods.
EU(European capital of culture): in 2022, we collaborated with the EU for the BIOFABRIKA project and with the design school Bogdan Šuput. The students got a basic knowledge of biodesign, bioart, biomaterials and worked with us with Scoby bacteria to make their first living biomaterial. We organized exhibitions, discussions with other colleagues in the field of science, AI, art and design, and with the government of the Republic of Serbia.
CENER21, Center for Energy, Environment and Resources: lectures on biodesign and biomaterials at First High School in Sarajevo.
Bio Co Culture: regional collaboration of bioartist Adrienn Ujhazi and biodesigner Maja Halilovic, also part of the mentioned EU project whose goal is the research of sustainable materials.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your project. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was.
In order to be able to carry out the project to the end, we had help in the field of biotechnology, chemistry, biology, mechanical engineering and new knowledge and disciplines within design and art, which is biodesign and bioart. Research spirit, experiment, willingness to tackle new fields of knowledge contributed to the successful completion of the project.
We spoke with professors at the Faculty of Technology who instructed us in basic knowledge and how to proceed in the work, workers and machinists who make pellet machines instructed us and experimented together with us on how to make organic bodies from organic waste and how to pellet them without using other materials, binders. The rest was all down to experiment, trying again and again, all the way to a successful result and product. Communication was always open because it was a project that required innovative thinking and everyone was in agreement with each other and equally shared information and knowledge with each other.

Please give information on the results, outcomes and impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for. This includes also benefits from the project for direct and indirect beneficiaries
We have managed to create heating elements that are superior to the heating elements already on the market. Which reduce harmful gases that pollute the air by 80%. They heat twice as much, burn longer than wood heaters. They help to prevent air pollution, and to provide citizens with quality fuel from waste. The biomaterials we have developed from organic coffee waste and eggshells are precisely intended as products that decompose quickly and that refine the soil in which they are decomposed. We gathered people to collect this waste and created a community of people who want to help our country move towards greening our country.

Please provide documents showing the results, outcomes and impacts of your project
Both
PDF
- pdf-1-2469.pdf
Web link
Please highlight the innovative character of the project, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the project
Our entire business model rests on innovation. We use waste to make biomaterials that become products, such as vases and packaging.
Our model of working and transporting garbage is innovative because it is people who bring it to the location and receive our vouchers as a thank you and receive discounts on our products. We will also have a courier who can use electric vehicles to collect garbage from different locations, from our partners.
We are a team that educates about new biotechnology, offers products that are for the benefit and health of our citizens. And all from organic waste.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your project.
There are several methodologies:
Biomaterials, research work that requires knowledge of the field of biotechnology, how to make binders, which binders are on the market, and how biobinders react in composition with organic waste, we mostly use hand machines or extruders and presses to change the molecular structure of the mixture.
Analysis of specific waste, biological, chemical, so that we know the basics from which we can start the innovation of a new biomaterial or product such as biodiesel or pellets, all depending on the characteristics of the waste and their proper use in industry.
Also, one of the methodologies is an experiment in a biolaboratory, which requires research and the joining of different elements so that we strengthen and cross the lines of biomaterial production.

Please describe which elements of your project could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and context. This may involve for example aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings etc.
Our work can teach other groups of people who could continue their work in all other locations in the world where organic coffee and eggshell waste is available. We would transfer the knowledge and methodology of our work, first of all the cooperation with many other professions that were necessary for the completion of this project. Because when it comes to biotechnologies, knowledge of professions within the natural sciences and engineering, as well as art and design are desirable.
-production, analysis, innovation of biomaterials,
-how to create a biolaboratory,
- technology of pelletizing organic waste,
- education and workshops and discussions about biodesign, biotechnologies, bioart,
- extracting fat from coffee waste and how to use as biodiesel,
- garbage collection in an innovative way through the community.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addresses by providing local solutions
-global warming,
-release of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere,
-air pollution,
-pollution with plastic and non-degradable materials,
-heating elements that are cheap, do not release harmful gases into the atmosphere,
-creating a community that, through this project, thinks about its waste and new ways of using it, we develop awareness and new ideas,
-establishment of completely new biotechnologies in our area that did not exist before with the sign of sustainability and zero waste philosophy.
Please attach at least 6 high resolution images (or other types of visual representations, if images are not possible) to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below
- BIOMATERIAL RESEARCH.pdf
By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the project and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their projects, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted project, is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes