Imagine sipping freshly squeezed orange juice from a cup made out of the peel that just held the juice.
That is exactly the loop Italian design studio Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA) created. They call it Feel the Peel, a prototype nearly 10 feet tall with a dome holding 1,500 oranges.
Here is how it works:
Order a juice and an orange rolls down to be squeezed. The juice pours out. The peel falls into a chamber below.
Once dried, milled, and mixed with polylactic acid, the peels become bioplastic filament.
A built-in 3D printer then uses that filament to print a cup right in front of you. You drink the juice from it, completing the cycle.
The cup being 3D printed
It is a striking demonstration of circular design. Nothing goes to waste. Everything, from the juice to the vessel, begins as the same orange.
CRA, working with energy company Eni, debuted the prototype at events in Italy, including the Singularity University Summit in Milan.
The studio imagines more possibilities. In the future, orange peels might provide material not only for cups but for clothing and other everyday objects.
Images © Copyright Carlo Ratti Associati
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