Scraps of fabric have been recycled into edible treats by designer Jinghan Li, who wants people to consider waste as a resource for food.
Li undertook the FabriCandy project as part of her masters in biodesign at London's Central Saint Martins (CSM) college, producing an array of colourful confections.
She made the candies by applying the enzyme cellulase to natural fabrics, which breaks down their cellulose content into glucose.
Jinghan Li's FabriCandy is made from scraps of fabric
For cotton, which is made of more than 90 per cent cellulose, that means almost all of the fabric was effectively broken down, leaving only a small amount of residue.
Cellulose is made of a long chain of glucose molecules so the process, known as enzymatic hydrolysis, simply involves breaking the bonds that connect them. The resulting glucose could theoretically be used to make biofuels or bioplastics, according to Li. However, she chose instead to explore its potential as a raw material for the food and beverage industries.
Cotton fabric was made into a soft sweet called Above Clouds
"It may be hard for the public to accept that waste streams can become resources for food due to hygiene concerns," said Li. "But most basic materials like cotton and wood are natural materials that existed before industrialisation."
"As we continue to obtain resources from nature, we ought to utilise them as much as possible."
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