From my research ive conducted on existing bee boxes i started thinking about what materials i would want to use for my bee box. Im still a little unsure of what my bee box is going is going to look like or how it will fit together so have kept my options open.
some thoughts and findings so far...
I am thinking of making a product which is either fixed or slotted together however will need to bear in mind that wood naturally moves and twists as it weathers. Using slots would mean there is no need for components however it would need to fit tightly together to prevent it becoming majorly warped and twisted.
If i do use components such as screws will need to take into consideration rusting of exposed parts and this will also add a lot to the weight of the product.
You can now buy formaldehyde-free engineered wood and engineered woods that are manufactured use phenol-formaldehyde resin, which emits little to no toxic fumes. This could be useful as any materials which come into contact with bees need to be non toxic, however ideally i shouldn't use manufactured woods at all.
As long as the nesting tubes themselves are natural and non toxic it matters not what material the outside wrapping is made from! freeing up the possibilities of materials i can now use!
-> Bamboo nest tubes?
I am pretty certain that bamboo would make an excellent choice for the nesting tubes as it is durable, light, cheap and mimics the bees natural nesting holes perfectly (solitary bees also nest inside dead reeds which is pretty similar) I have looked at alternative such as commercially available nest tubes or cutting holes into the material however felt it would be better to have the nesting tubes separate to allow me to be use artificial materials and not worry about affecting the bees hygiene.
It is important that the bamboo canes are of the correct width of around 10mm-12mm otherwise they will be too small/too large to accommodate the bees. Ive noticed from the cane i had in my garden that they tend to be thicker in the middle of the canes although this does vary greatly. My only concern is that there would be a lot of waste if i was too take only the bamboo from the middle, however i have shopped around and it is possible to buy bamboo canes of a specific width meaning there wouldn't be any waste although it is slightly more expensive than a mixed bundle. I found a bunch of 20 bamboo canes of 1.5 meters long of varying widths can be bought from Pound land! other online stores such as Ebay and gardening centers offer good deals on bamboo cane of specific lengths. The nest tubes are only going to be around 120mm long which is a rather small amount so can get a few nest tubes out of just one cane.
Im still thinking on weather i would send bamboo canes along with the bee box in the envelope, it would depend on how much the the outer box/wrapping weighs and room there is in the envelope. also, if the consumer already has to go out and buy a plant for the bee box buying additional elements such as canes and then having to cut them to size may be just too much effort and cost and may put them off buying the product. The point of the product is to be as effortless as possible to encourage people to put them up, so need to consider this carefully when designing my product.
*see testing section in menu bar for testing bamboo*
-> Alternative to using wood?
When i started doing materials research i felt like i was keeping my options open however i immediately went straight for wood as my choice (so wasn't really keeping my options open). As Ive decided on using bamboo canes as the nest tubes this frees me up to sue other materials which are considerably lighter, cheaper and more workable than wood. My product is supposed to be different from the ones already available and think that using wood will also cause problems with my intention to post it as a large letter and need to shop around as there must be a much more suitable material i could use.
I was inspired by the cardboard bird house (see design section) i found in pets at home as it seems to fit well with idea i have in mind, Ive decided to build on this idea and think how i could improve the design, in terms of life span and design. I decided to start looking at packaging materials which are water resistant and would have the benefit of being very light and also cheap. There are no commercially available bee box products which are made from card based materials which would mean that i am definitely creating something new but need to work out how i am to do this successfully, what is different about my product is it has a short life span to suit novices and not a big chunky solid product which will last a decade.
I collected together some scraps of packaging material which i felt could work well for this product and put them to some tests to see how they react to certain conditions.
*see testing section in menu bar for testing packaging*
-> Packaging research
From my experimentation (and common sense) liquid packaging such as milk and juice cartons materials would make the best material for my product. Although i know that eventually the material would deteriorate however my product has a short life span and the material could cope for the time i need it for as it has a moisture barrier which i would need to protect the nest tubes from the elements and prevent the wet soil inside from rotting the material. Liquid packaging will also meet with my specification of cost and weight more so than wood.
'Cartons can be made from many materials: paperboard, various plastics, or a composite. Some are "food grade" for direct contact with foods. Many cartons are made out of a single piece of paperboard. Depending on the need, this paperboard can be waxed or coated with polyethylene to form a moisture barrier. This may serve to contain a liquid product or keep a powder dry.'
click for link
Click for link
-> Tetra pak material
Tetra pak seems to be the best material i have found so far which offers a protection on both sides of the material compared to others which only have one coated side such as beverage cups.
Paper/aluminum/PE liquid food aseptic packaging paper. Water and light barriers, It can be used to package milk, juice etc for 8-12 months under normal temperature. It can be used for aseptic filling machines. Packaging Material Types:200ml, 250ml, 500ml, 700ml, 1000ml
Material Structure:1. 3 PE layers: water proof, antiseptic, increase strength and thickness, protect printed layer2. 3 Bounding layers: reinforce the solid delivery ability between PE and paper, and aluminum foil3. Paper: printed layer and supporting layer, with certain strength, tenacity and stiffness4.Aluminum Foil: light and oxygen barrier5.Modified PE: modify heat-sealing performance, increase sealing quality
Click for link to site
I quite like the idea that my project could be a template that people can print out or be printed as a template and transferred onto their packaging to reuse and it. I started looking at types of packaging i have in my house and available in the super markets to see what would make the best material to use for my bee box, the material i need needs to be-
water resistant (on both sides)
Folded easily and keep its shape
A benefit of using tetra pack is the multiple layers and the reflective aluminium foil the material will provide insulation for the bees and help to retain the heat!
Alternatives to Tetra Pak
Although tetra pak seems to be a great choice of material im still left with the issue of creating waste and how my product is too be disposed of after it has served its purpose.I should look into more ecologically friendly alternatives i could use such as biodegradable plastics as well as look at how using tetra pak for my product will impact the environment. Is tetra pak such a baddie?
DO-IT-YOURSELF Starch plastic
I was astonished that plastic can be made in ones own home from something as common place as a potato, it seemed to me to be something very scientific and can only be produced in a factory with loads of scary chemicals (although home made plastic cant compare to these)! It would be really cool if my product was instead a set of instructions on how to make a bee box however the plastic which is produced from the potatoes is very stiff and brittle and not well suited for what i need. However is worth bearing in mind and very interesting!
polypropylene is an environmentally responsible and 100% recyclable product. It can be printed onto, is easy to wipe clean, hard wearing and will withstand extreme temperatures and aging. It is used in food packaging that needs to be dishwasher safe as the material will not warp when exposed to the hot temperatures. There are new elastic versions of polypropylene are very rubbery, making them even more resistant to shattering.
polypropylene doesn't soak up water, making it ideal for uses where it will be constantly subject to moisture. (This would be really great for my product which will be constantly exposed to moisture from inside and outside!) Before polypropylene was invented, the gaseous waste from oil such as propylene and ethylene were simply burned, because they were useless. Today, these gases are used to produce polypropylene, thus drastically reducing atmospheric pollution. The production process also eliminates the potential polluting of rivers, streams and lakes, due to the use of water in a closed cooling cycle.
It can be recycled more than 50 times without any reduction in strength
-> Alternative packaging idea's
I found this material from the company 'mirel' again it is fantastic that the material is 100% decomposable however like all the biomaterial s i have looked at will not last the amount of time i require. It is great however that a lot of company are catching onto these biomaterials, however hopefully it is not just a little gimick and will lead onto more products like this.
-> Tailor made Bioplastics
It is do-able to get a company to tailor a bioplastic to meet with my needs however again this would involve further cost! and as this product is supposed to be cheap so again not a good option.
-> Materials Chart
I felt a bit all over the place with my materials research so made a chart with heading that i felt were the most important to work out what was the best material to use. I thought it might narrow down my options and weed out materials which would not work
-> Its a nice idea but here's Why i cant use Bioplastics
I started off being quite happy to use tetra pak as my material for the bee packaging however felt that i could find greener alternatives as i felt i was giving with one hand and taking with other as far 'doing good for the planet'...... I wanted to be able to make the product from ordinary juice cartons, meaning that household waste can be used as something positive before it goes in the bin. However as the juice cartons have existing creases the design had to be worked around the pre existing measurements which meant the product will be a lot smaller than it needs to be to house a plant and an adequate amount of nest holes.
I looked into corn starch and some other bioplastics which meet with the green criteria, however they would not last for the amount of time i require and would disintegrate before the year was out.
As much as id like to use a Bioplastic as i think it would make my product have a much more interesting edge to it, unfortunately they just don't meet the criteria. They will disintegrate before they have reached the end of the bees cycle, if the outer wrapping starts to break down it will disturb the bee nests and because the weight of the soil could cause the whole thing to just collapse. Another factor for not using a bio plastic is that although they come from cheaper sources (corn and sugar etc) as they are not very widely used so there for there production cost is a lot higher than regular plastics and tetra pak, so at this time would not be a good choice until things move on a bit or a materials are developed further. It is reassuring however that we are moving towards a more ecologically friendly world and good sign of things to come.
Tetra Pak (again)
So i have found myself coming back to tetra pak.... it is the LDPE layers which make it the perfect material for me to use, particularly as it is weather proof!
-> So can i justify using tetra pak?
*The information obtained below is not from the Tetra pak website as I felt they would be biased but instead from Green websites an those that would give a balanced view!
From all the sites I have waded through the biggest issue that keeps cropping up against TetraPak is recycling. Although TetraPak cartons are fully recyclable, the problem has been that there are not many facilities, which allow the paperboard, polyethylene and aluminum foil to be separated. Therefore tetra Pak has been a massive contributor to landfills, however in recent years it has been trying to turn things around and the entire site did acknowledge the many positive changes that are happening.
These changes include;
Tetra pak themselves are leading the way in encouraging recycling schemes as well as using greener resources for their material (see article below)
Facilities for Recycling Tetra Paks are now available in 88% of UK local authority areas and rising, meaning that less of the thousands of cartons we use each year are going into landfill than was the case until even very recently.
You can also post your Tetra Paks for recycling by downloading address labels from the Tetra Pak website, although this is not a freepost service.
TetraPak cartons are made from pine trees that come increasingly from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified forests or forests that meet TetraPak's minimum criteria (no old-growth, no illegal sources, etc.). They have just announced that all of their UK and Irish packaging will be FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. That means that all the products using the Tetra Pak system will now be using environmental packaging with the FSC logo.
Some have criticized Tetra Pak because the whole of the packaging is not recyclable. Now they have committed to increasing the recycling of their cartons. In 2008 25.6 billion cartons were recycled, which was a 64% increase since 2002. Over the next year, 75% of the cartons made by Tetra Pak for the UK & Ireland will become FSC-certified.
There is also much debate about whether the responsibility of recycling falls on tetra pak , the company that uses the carton to package their product, the retailer that sells the product, the consumer that brings it home, or the waste management company charged with taking it away?
In defense of Tetra pak
Using waste/rejected tetra pak
I found online that large rolls of Rejected Reels from Thailand, Malaysia, sweden, and saudi arabia due to bad printing / batch rejection / Product change etc. it can be purchased for a relatively cheap price however this would be negotiated with the seller. If i was looking to find a cheaper way of creating the outer wrapping and not too hung up on printed design i could look to doing this as a solution. This would mean the material is flat and crease free therefore i could make the product to the size i wish with out worrying about working to existing creases, It could also be an interesting twist to the product and fit more with my idea of reusing packaging.
In terms of pricing this is negotiable with the sellers and no fixed price as it depends on amount ordered, location and the fault with the tetra pak.
Most of the suppliers were on the site ALIBABA.COM (World traders website and worldscrap.com)
-> But there are still some problems
This material will work for my project however the draw back is that it if all the inner layers are exposed around the edges when cut the paper will gradually soak up the water and it will swell and go out of shape. To combat this i would need to have a fold around all the edges or have the LDPE coating to seal around all the edges however as im using reject tetra pak it will just be cut from the existing sheeting of material....ill have to rework my template to make folds to ensure there are no exposed edges as with tetra pak products such as juice cartons, everything is folded inwards.
Plastic eyelets
As a way of preventing the water soaking in around the edges of the holes at the top of the wrapping i started looking around for covers and eyelet components. I found some shower curtain eyelets and those that would be constantly exposed to moisture however these were too large for my wrapping. I came across some camping eyelets used for tents and tarpaulin. These are designed to be outdoors and will not rust or rot being exposed to the elements. I bought some from the internet to have a closer inspection and hope these will do the trick. Ive ordered them in grey to match with the outer wrapping as too make them an eye-saw! It doesn't say on the site what type of plastic they are made from which i need to find out to see how recyclable they are?
MATERIAL CHANGES!?
As i have continued with the finalising of my design ideas ive realised that i cannot use tetra pak for the inner walls of the product as the exposed edges poking through the slots will soak up the water causing it to swell and distort the shape of the wrapping. Unlike the outer wrapping folding them inside wont be possible (as the point of the is to stick out through the slots to hold the product together!) i need to think of another suitable material to use instead.
Ive decided to use Polypropylene instead as it is has a excellent water barrier (which i found in my testing) and is light,cheap, can be recycled up to 50times without loosing its strength!
I have also found that like the tetra pak it is also possible to buy waste and recycled polypropylene
Paper Gsm??
As i cant acquire the reject tetra Pak to create my final product i therefore am going to have to replicate it. therefore Ive looked at the thickness of tetra Pak board to ensure i use the same thickness in my model. Originally i though that tetra Pak had a standard weight however have since found i was wrong and comes in between 200-300gsm. I looked at some different card thickness which replicated tetra pak and I was surprised at how thin tetra pack actually was, i for some reason thought it was thicker, however it is the layers of polyethylene and aluminum which give its strength.
Cork sheet
I need to think of a way of plugging the ends of the nest tubes which would be light, non toxic and would withstand exposure to moisture and protect the inside of the nest tubes. I found online sheets of natural cork which have been pressed without any toxic adhesives used in the mix.
why i chose cork?
'Recyclebility' and the 'ecofriendliness' of materials has been an important aspect of my material choices. This is why cork is a great choice as cork is one of the few forms of packaging that is environmentally friendly. It is renewable, fully recyclable, biodegradable and totally natural. Also during the cork production process none of it is wasted- even the cork residue is granulated for other cork products and the cork dust is used for fuel.
The other most important reasons for choosing cork is how the material performs...
'Cork has been used as bottle stoppers for more than 400 years. It is possibly the best suited material to use as a bottle stopper because it contains a natural waxy substance, called suberin. This substance makes cork impermeable to liquids and gas, and prevents the cork from rotting'
It is because of its working properties it would well suited to being outdoors and protecting the inside of nest tubes from moisture. Cork is also very light weight so will not affect the overall weight of the product which is important as it needs to be posted as a large letter. It is also an elastic material which will help when pushing the cork stoppers into the end of the nest tubes (as with cork wine bottle stoppers)
I bought my cork in a sheet which can be cut and shaped, how I am going to do this is something ill need to think about as my stoppers are going to be very small circles.
Roof component
'A snap fastener (also called snap, popper, and press stud) is a pair of interlocking discs commonly used in place of buttons to fasten clothing. A circular lip under one disc fits into a groove on the top of the other, holding them fast until a certain amount of force is applied. Snap fasteners are often used in children's clothing, as they are relatively easy for children to use.'
I chose these plastic snap fasteners as they were made from polyethylene (the same material which is used to coat tetra pak to make it water/weather resistant) they are light and small enough to fit on the inside of the wrapping to attach the roof . They were also very cheap to buy. Im intending on attaching one half on the wrapping itself and the other on the roof slot so it is easily clipped in to keep it secure.