Sturdy and modular concept of 2 in 1 public furniture design by recycling massive plastic waste

Abstract

A large amount of plastic waste in Indonesia has not been properly managed. From this phenomenon a solution is needed, namely creating a product made from plastic waste to reduce the massive amount of available plastic waste. The product that is potentially high to be developed and can make use of large amounts of plastic waste is public furniture. Considering the use of public furniture will be managed by the local government, the condition of the waste recycled products will be easier to preserve. To develop the plastic waste-based public furniture, a few procedures were carried out, such as observations to city parks, conducting interviews with the local government and with a plastic recycling company, studying the plastic physical properties, conducting experiments on the plastic waste treatment, benchmarking furniture that utilizes plastic waste, and analyzing park visitor activity. From the obtained data, an analysis of material selection was carried out based on the fulcrum strength and resistance to crack and weather. After that, the exploration of forms was carried out with the criteria of modular, sturdy, multi-configuration, and unity. The result of this study is the design of 2 in 1 public furniture (park bench and planter) which consists of 3 modules that can be arranged according to needs. One set of modules weighs 17 kgs.