When a thing is a thing!

“Hey children, what are you watching?”
“Oh, so and so (some famous YouTuber) is doing another unboxing video.”
Surely that’s not a thing, I think and get on with what ever important stuff it is that I am doing. How wrong was I though. Did you know there are even videos on how to make one of these unboxing videos!

Any way, today as part of my involvement in an exciting project, T2A, with @coreo, CRDC and Cotton Australia I had a box to unwrap, so I though I would give making my own unboxing video a go.

Why are you doing this?

Do you remember when the ABC launched its wonderful programme, ‘War on Waste‘? Of course you do, but despite highlighting the challenges and providing guidance on solutions the issue is still an issue. The T2A project is about #transitiontoaction and is developing ways to try and completely close the loop with some of the fashion industry. 
Building on work that was cofunded by the CRDC and undertaken by researchers in America with Cotton Incorporated support, the T2A project is going to take garments made from Australian cotton and return them at the end of their life to the soil on which the next cotton crop will grow, thus closing the cycle.
Being a natural fibre the cotton will degrade and feed the soil biology. If you would like more information on that, then see our earlier posts about #soilyourundies. 
Closing the loop like this will divert tonnes of waste fabric from landfill and support a more circular clothing industry. How cool is that?

unboxing video

Not sure what I was going to receive, which makes it hard to plan experiments, but being excited about the project, I decided to unbox the soil and material and who knows what else on camera.

So what’s next

So, how did I do with my fist unboxing video?
From here we will sieve and weigh out the soil. We’ll add the various materials and then monitor the degradation over 8 weeks. After that time we’ll analyse the soil to determine if it changes the way cotton germinates, holds water differently, if the aggregates have changed or if the soils carbon and nitrogen content is different. If it all goes well we could be fertilisiing our fields with old clothes within a year!