A team of industrial design researchers at Virginia Tech has developed an innovative toolkit that transforms school food waste—primarily fruit and vegetable scraps—into natural watercolour paints. Aimed at engaging schoolchildren in creative reuse, the project is a hands-on lesson in sustainability, circularity, and material awareness.

From Waste to Pigment
In the United States, nearly 50% of school food waste is made up of fruits and vegetables. The team at Virginia Tech saw this not as refuse, but as a rich, untapped source of natural pigment. The toolkit, which is currently in prototype form, includes sorting bins, extraction tools, and instructions for converting food scraps into vivid watercolours.

The toolkit simplifies the process into three main stages: sorting compost by colour potential, extracting pigment, and mixing it into usable paint. Children start by placing waste into colour-coded compost bins—purple, orange, and green—based on the hues expected from different fruits and vegetables.

A Child-Friendly Lab for Biobased Pigments
The conversion process is designed to mimic real-world pigment extraction, scaled down for safety and simplicity. Students press the compost to separate liquid from pulp, then filter and heat the remaining mixture to extract colour. The pigment is then bound with gum arabic to produce usable watercolour paint. All equipment is child-safe and suitable for classroom use.

The pigments, though biobased and biodegradable, are robust enough for use in classroom art projects. The team worked with local elementary and middle school students to co-design the process and host workshops. Final artworks made with the extracted pigments were exhibited, offering children a sense of ownership and pride in their sustainable creations.

Teaching Sustainability Through Making
Beyond the material innovation, the project has strong educational value. By turning something usually considered waste into a resource, the toolkit encourages students to think critically about consumption, sustainability, and design. The goal is to empower children not just to create art, but to understand material cycles and environmental impact.

The project echoes the principles of circular design by repurposing organic waste into something useful and beautiful. It exemplifies how biobased materials and hands-on education can converge to foster environmental awareness from an early age.

A Model for Sustainable Design Education
This initiative is part of a broader trend that blends design, science, and education. It provides a replicable model for schools, museums, and even design studios that wish to explore the intersection of biobased materials and user engagement. For product and interior designers, this project also offers inspiration for incorporating circular systems and participatory design into their own practices.

Source: Dezeen
Photography: Kwon Junsu Choi