The brainstorm sessions form the start of the ARTIS Living Lab where we decided what we mean with improving circularity in the zoo. These sessions resulted in the mission of the living lab focused on the co-creation of a product, which empowers circular behaviour.

The trash scan and the day at the Dienstencentrum (DC) let us encounter the inner workings of the zoo and see the challenges ARTIS faces with waste. With the trash scan, we saw the complexity of the waste problem, and with the day at the DC, we got to know people in ARTIS and their daily routines.

The retail waste meeting and subsequent research explored the challenges with the entire waste system in ARTIS. 

The first co-creation session allowed us to see the main waste challenges employees within ARTIS deal with and see what the focus of the living lab could be.

The weighted criteria scheme marks the decision for the focus on a specific waste challenge. In this scheme, we combined insights from our own observations as well as the co-creation session. Here, we decided to focus on elephant manure.

The second co-creation brought a decision on the product to make out of manure. In collaboration with our case owner and the manager of the ARTIS 2030 team, we decided elephant paper was the most suitable for ARTIS of all the options.

The presentation for the management team of ARTIS formed an important moment for the research. Here, we could see if ARTIS was convinced by our project, which was a key factor in establishing co-ownership in the living lab. 

The first paper experiment marked the beginning of the design process. We did the first experiment in one of our homes, which resulted in a burlap-like paper.

The paper experiments at the Papierlab in Rotterdam enabled us to make high-quality paper with different textures based on materials, such as t-shirts and recycled paper. Click here to view the results of the paper experiments.

The turf session was a questionnaire in the employees’ cantine of ARTIS to get people’s opinion on the paper and to show the result of the experiment. Next to the coffee machine, three types of papers were displayed on which employees could vote. 

The survey with Ateliers members was to indicate if people were interested in following a workshop about papermaking with elephant manure. The result was a big success with a majority interested in a workshop.

The third co-creation session with Merel, the event coordinator, and Caroline, head of education, discussed the different options for using paper, which resulted in the choice for a workshop.

The final design session produced concrete designs for the project as well as provided a means of conducting the workshops without us.