This Is Paper
2021-2023
A research project turning paper waste into usable materials, and an exhibition making that work public.
CollaboratorFergal Tse
Context
Paper is the third-largest source of municipal waste in Hong Kong, and most of it is exported because there are few local recycling options. As global demand for recycled paper falls, that waste has fewer and fewer places to go. Most people never see the scale of the paper they use, where it travels, or what becomes of it, which keeps the problem abstract and recycling an afterthought. This Is Paper looked at whether paper waste could be treated as a raw material to build with, rather than a problem to send elsewhere.
Development
A research project at the University of Hong Kong, developed with Fergal Tse, exploring ways to upcycle paper waste. The work developed three techniques. Casting uses a paper pulp mixture to create durable slabs as an alternative to plastic or cement. Lamination combines paper with eco-resin to produce a timber-like material with unique patterns and high compression strength. 3D printing blends paper with sand and organic binders to make solid, printable structures.
In 2023, the research became an exhibition, The State of Paper, created for deTour during Hong Kong Design Week. It traces how paper moves through the city: its consumption, its many applications, and its final destinations. Visitors reconsider their relationship with paper through direct contact with the new materials made from it. Rather than keeping the process closed, the recipes and methods are shared openly, so others can work with them too.
OutcomePrototypes such as stools and tables demonstrate the materials at a practical, scalable level. Rather than treating paper waste as something to dispose of, the project presents it as versatile building stock, and argues for a local, potentially circular economy in which discarded paper is transformed into new objects rather than sent away.