Orange peels certainly are compostable, but Milan-based startup Krill Design has come up with an interesting alternative use for them. The company is incorporating orange waste into its 3D-printed Ohmie lamp, which is currently on Kickstarter.
According to Krill Design, each lamp contains the peels of two Sicilian oranges.
Obtained as waste from the food industry, the peels are dried, ground into a powder, then mixed with a plant-derived biopolymer. Although Krill hasn't stated what that biopolymer is, it could likely be polylactic acid (PLA). A couple of years ago, Italian design firm Carlo Ratti Associati combined milled orange peels with PLA to produce 3D-printed cups – these were both printed and used in an orange juice kiosk that supplied the peels in the first place.
In the case of the Ohmie, the orange-peel/biopolymer mix is extruded into the form of a filament, which is then used in a conventional FDM (fused deposition modelling) 3D printer to build the main body of the lamp. That body is made up of one continuous strand of the filament, which is laid down in successive layers (while heated to a molten state), in a spiral pattern.
The finished product has the texture of an actual orange peel – the color is enhanced with natural food dyes. It reportedly even smells slightly like orange cookies.
Once printed, each lamp is equipped with a USB-plug power cord, a dimmer switch, and an LED bulb that puts out 70 to 90 lumens. The whole thing stands 23 cm tall (9 in) and tips the scales at 150 grams (5.3 oz). What's more, should you decide that you hate the thing and don't want to give it to someone else, its body is claimed to be compostable.
As mentioned, the Ohmie lamp is presently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. Assuming it reaches production, a pledge of €72 (about US$85) will get you one. The planned retail price is €99 ($117).
There's more information in the video below.
Source: Kickstarter