“In the UK alone we dispose of 1,000 tonnes of feathers a week.” That’s only the tip of the iceberg – Robinson believes that across the world, 10,000 tonnes of waste feathers are produced every day.
Along with designer Elena Dieckmann, Robinson has discovered a way to turn feathers into an insulating material for buildings or a packing material for food or medicine. The pair has formed a start-up, called Aeropowder, to try and turn their invention into a commercial product.
“Currently feathers are mainly converted in this country to a low-grade animal feed called feathermeal,” says Robinson. This seems to be about the only product that uses feathers after they have been plucked. “Feathers can also be incinerated or put into a landfill. And these disposal methods do not make use of their amazing natural properties.”
It turns out that feathers are quite the wonder material. “Feathers are inherently insulating due to their structure, which is hollow keratin fibres,” says Robinson. Extra air in the fibres means less heat transfer. “What has been surprising is… how well the material has performed, and we hope to continue to make it better and better.”
Initially, the Aeropowder material – considerably easier on the nose than the animal feed – was ground down to a very fine powder. “As we continued we decided that the properties of the feathers themselves were also extremely useful – not just as an additive but when they were comprising the majority of the material.” The current form of Aeropowder’s material looks much more like a compressed brick of feathers. It’s pliant and light and doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out what it’s made from.
“Building insulation has been a main focus,” says Robinson. “Our materials could be used on exterior walls, in between cavity walls or in the lofts. But we are also interested in insulating smaller consumer items… like food or medicine.”
Mmm, feathery goodness... or clothing. 1,000 tonnes per weak ought to make a LOT of chicken costumes. I mean seriously, we could create a lifetime supply for every man, woman and child in like five minutes BUT WE'RE JUST THROWING THIS ALL AWAY !!! Where's the sense in that ?!?!? WHERE ? Or pillows ? Has no-one stopped to consider how many comfy pillows we could be churning out from our feathered friends ? Hmmm ?
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171010-how-chicken-feathers-could-warm-our-homes
I wonder what can be done with egg shells? I throw 4 a day away.
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