Sounds like a good title for a collection of design objects, doesn’t it? It should read: “The Perennial Problem of Expensive Sawdust Collection”.
At the moment, it is just a problem.
MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) is toxic and the lovely couple that used to collect the mountain of bags of sawdust to make bedding for their horses are not happy to subject themselves and their horses to clouds of formaldehyde. So, we have to have it collected by a company that charges a certain fee. Certain fees build up and we prefer our rent to be spent on better things.
Soon, we will figure out a way to benefit from the sawdust as a resource.
I am experimenting with a few different mixtures and researching into what other people have done with sawdust. A labyrinth of rabbit holes led me to mycelium, which I have been wanting to study in my next life, and it’s an eye opener. Mycelia are the roots of mushrooms, basically, that grow into the tiniest gaps on whatever substrate they happen to be on. It is currently used as packaging and wall panels. [] I had wonderful input from the academic community and some companies who have developed their proprietory formulas and mixtures. More on that later.
However, what I am interested in, to begin with, is a way of capturing the toxic part of our sawdust in a medium so it is not airborne. That’s easy – mix with something sticky. We can use the shedloads of discarded paint, suggested Enrique, the first person with whom I discussed the problem. The first experiment was a success. After a long time, it dried up and turned into a weak, a very weak, and flaky sheet of something, about 7 mm thick. It has legs, we thought.
Then I lunged into experimentation mode.
The most exciting mix, currently, is the one with coffee granules.