Our R&D department is constantly looking for ethical materials for the design of our structures. Having been the first to make LEDs the norm, to recycle our garlands and revolutionize our illuminations thanks to BioPrint – a recyclable and biodegradable material – we are now innovating by launching Recyprint, a range of decorations designed from plastic bottles.
Our 2D decorations are equipped with a recycled and recyclable aluminimum frame designed to support the structure and printed with our wide-format printers in Bioprint or Recyprint. The 100% LED lighting components are recycled after use and are all interconnected with the Octoplus system.
Bioprint designs are made from biosourced GMO-free sugar cane which is turned into dehydrated bioethanol at a French laboratory. When the granules arrive at our workshops in Apt, France, they are dyed with our own colours. The material is then injected into our 3D printers which produce colourful, biodegradable and recyclable structures.
A process that reduces the waste at the manufacturing stage and allows total recyclability at the end of its life.
“Biodegradation” means the decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms, with no harmful effect on the natural environment.
Our decorations biodegrade slowly at the end of their life – they can be installed outdoors for long periods without this causing aesthetic or mechanical damage. One advantage of this slowness is that it minimises the greenhouse gases generated when the complex molecules that make up our revolutionary material biodegrade.
While industrial composting is one way to sensibly manage this biomass, the ecofriendliest approach is to recycle the material. By doing this, daily waste production can be minimised.
At Blachere, we have decided to tackle the scourge of plastic pollution by recycling PET (polyethylene terephthalate) from the food industry to create beautiful and innovative decorations using this unique material – rPET (recycled PET).
500 billion bottles are produced every year and many of them end up being littered or in the oceans. Indeed, each year, about 8 million tons of waste end up in the oceans and form the 7th continent – a vortex of floating plastics equivalent in size to 1/3 of Europe.
The bottles we salvage are sorted by colour (from colourless to blue), then crushed into flakes to be shaped for extrusion. The granules resulting from this transformation are then injected into our 3D printers to create unique blue decorations.
This unrivalled method helps to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to keep our nature clean from plastic bottles as far as possible.
The optimization of the interconnectivity between our different lighting components allows a multitude of assemblies while limiting the number of connection accessories.
We use this aluminium frame and its sleek design to support the Bioprint structure. The aluminium used to manufacture all of our decorations is then collected and processed by a certified body.
ECOSYSTEM – an eco-organization approved for the process of professional WEEE (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment) – collect and recycle all our garlands and other electrical components used for decorations.
The lighting components are wired onto a structure entirely made from our revolutionary new eco- responsible materials, available in different colours.