Project supervisor
dr hab. inż. Małgorzata Anita
Bryszewska
Project members
Appleather Erfan Tabandeh Jakub Jędrasik
Maja Czarnecka Julia Dzierżanowska
Eco-Friendly & Plastic Free
Problem Based Learning
EVALUATE ANALYZE
IMPLEMENT DESIGN
DEVELOP
Apple peels - the resource of the future
“Over the years we have been experimenting on how to convert left-over fruit into leather-like material. By
doing so, we are able to bring a eco-friendly and animal-friendly product to the market”– can be read on
Fruitleather Rotterdam web side. Durable, leather-like material can be made by transformation leftover
fruits such as pineapple leaves, cork, apple peels, other fruit waste. You can find shoes, boots, handbags,
billfolds, and seat covers for your car made of leftover fruits. Recently, Tesla joined automaker: BMW,
Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, and Ferrari offering vegan leather seating.
According to the report presenting trends, forecast and dollar values of the global vegan leather market the
global vegan leather market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 49% over the forecast period of 2019-2025.
Grand View Research (GVR) a business consultancy estimates that the vegan leather market is set to be
worth $85 billion globally by 2025.
A Canadian fashion company, SAMARA, is making vegan leather items out of apple peel waste collected from
the juicing industry. The designers have not yet figured out how to make it entirely plastic-free; they still
use some polyurethane (PU) for a binding agent, which is the eco-friendly version of PVC. Polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) is commonly used in the textile industry and is notoriously bad for the environment.
Apples are universal, tasty, available all year round and can perfectly fit into the ecological trends, strive to
comply with the zero-waste principle. The trend, encourages us to utilize the parts of apples that we usually
dispose of. In most applesauce productions, a lot of apple peel is leftover, and it usually ends up in compost.
Whereas, this "waste" contains plenty of vitamins and nutrients. Apple peels contain vitamins A, C and K, as
well as calcium, phosphorus and potassium. Almost half of the fibre in each apple fruit is located in it.
What is vegan
leather?
A material which does not use
animal skins and serves as a
replacement of real leather
Also called:
• Pleather
• Faux leather
• Artificial leather
STAKEHOLDERS
‘Vegan leather industry will be worth $89.6 billion by 2025’
Companies Ecologists Vegans
Plastics – harmful components of artificial leather
Damage the natural Contribute to global
Non-biodegradable warming
environment
Plastics cause harm to It can take hundreds or The production of
humans, animals and even thousands of years plastics requires the
plants through toxic for plastic to break use of fossil fuels
pollutants. down. The environmental (gas, oil, coal).
damage is long-lasting.
The objective of
our project
To create a new type of vegan
leather which is:
• Free of harmful plastics
• Based on recyclable
materials
Apple waste products
In the juicing industry, nearly 75%
of apple fresh weight is extracted
as juice.
The left-over 25% is collected as
a food waste – apple pomace.
The global production of apple
pomace is estimated to be
4 milion metric tonnes per year.
Kombucha
Fermented drink produced by
bacteria and yeast living in
SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of
Bacteria and Yeast)
SCOBY contains microorganisms,
such as acetic acid bacteria
(Acetobacter xylinum), which are
responsible for the synthesis of
bacterial cellulose
Cultivation of SCOBY
Planting SCOBY Obtained bacterial cellulose
Chemical treatment of the material
Pre-treatment Post-treatment
I. Microorganism
removal Bacterial Apple
Glycerol
cellulose powder
II. Neutralization
III. Bleaching
Appleather
Prototype
Right After
Preparation 1 Week Later 1 Month Later
Dyeing the material
Appleather (containing 50% apple powder) after dyeing
Advantages of Appleather
Biodegradable
High tensile strength Easy to dye
and eco-friendly
Appleather is fully The material can The colour of the
biodegradable and does withstand a lot of stress material can easily be
not contain substances while being pulled or changed, making it an
harmful to the natural stretched before it breaks. attractive alternative
environment for production of
consumer articles
Survey results
More about Appleather
What our respondents think What our respondents’
about making leather from opinions are about Appleather
apple waste
We believe vegan leather is our
Thank you for
future
your attention
Thank You For Your Attention!
Comments & Questions
Presentation created by
Małgorzata Anita Bryszewska, Erfan Tabandeh, Jakub Jędrasik
