4.+The+Product

The objective of our project is to design affordable and durable shoes for children and adults across South America and South Africa. There are millions children around the world without shoes1. For many, this may seem trivial, but for these children being shoeless can have health and sociological issues. These children go about their daily lives trampling on rough terrains and sustain injuries from stray rocks, stomps, nails and other objects.
 * The product**

We are proposing liquid shoes as a next generation solution to this problem. The material in question here is called Arboform. It is gotten from a mixture of lignin, natural resins, flax and fiber2. Arboform can be molded into any object form which is normally made using non-biodegradable petroleum products. What shoots up the eco-factor of such products is the fact that once out of use the Arboform products break down quickly organically into eco-safe by-products like water and carbon dioxide. Now almost anything that you can imagine under the sun can be produced using Arboform from simple toys to complex gadgets.

This solution is great on several levels. For one, sourcing will not be a problem because there is an abundance of paper mills in the targeted regions. There are 297 paper mills across South America and another 17 in Africa3. Another great solution that liquid shoe provides is the resulting positive effect it has on the environment. By extracting lignin from the waste that exudes from the rafters of the mill, we are able to turn it into Arboform which behaves just like plastic but is a bio-friendly alternative. Lignin is one of the most abundant compounds on earth, so it availability will not be a concern now or in the future4. Arboform shares with petroleum based plastics, a similar toughness that is needed to traverse the rugged terrains of South America and Africa. The shoe will be designed to take the form of the sole of the feet to increase stability and convenience. The frame of the shoe will also be hardened to protect against bumping into stomps and snake bites especially in heavily wooded areas such as forests.

Figure 1: Map of 297 Paper mills locations across South America



References

1. http://www.childrenwithoutshoesinternational.org/Children_Without_Shoes/Home.html 2. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3938912,00.html 3. http://www.risiinfo.com/risi-store/do/product/detail/latin-american-pulp-and-paper-mill-map.html 4. Lebo, Stuart E. Jr.; Gargulak, Jerry D. and McNally, Timothy J. (2001). [|"Lignin"]. //Kirk‑Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology//. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [|doi]:[|10.1002/0471238961.12090714120914.a01.pub2]. []. Retrieved 2007-10-14.