How can island green waste, often seen as storm debris, be transformed into regenerative materials that support coastal restoration? What design strategies can link local ecological cycles with circular systems to reduce waste and rebuild resilience in the US Virgin Islands?
Tide + Silt Mark is a dual-system design proposal that reimagines coastal green waste as a resource for ecological regeneration.
Set in the US Virgin Islands, where hurricanes and seasonal storms routinely tear vegetation from shorelines, the project diverts this organic material from landfills and instead transforms it into biochar-based structures that support mangrove reforestation and reef stabilization.
By developing two linked prototypes, Tide Mark, a floating barrier that signals aquatic irregularity, and Silt Mark, a submerged core that supports marine life, the project turns storm debris into a tool for shoreline recovery. These interventions are made from chitosan composite, and biochar, a carbon-rich material. The result is a system that not only reduces landfill pressure, but actively helps protect coastlines, support mangrove growth, and create habitat for fish and coral. Together, they offer a local, low-tech strategy for climate resilience that is both functional and targeted to this locale.
In my endeavor to better understand the problem plaguing the US Virgin Islands, I met with multiple local government officials from Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority. The green waste produced during these storms fill and overload the landfill (which is its own issue). And paired with overwhelming bureaucracy, they are working uphill to find sustainable and circular solutions to two problems: Climate resiliency, and waste management.
Armed with this information, I began to experiment with bioplastics infused with biochar, a material made of almost pure carbon, that could be processed using pyrolysis to work through the green waste being produced each year. This biochar would be a powerful soil amendment, even working to support local ecosystems in the way that it has supported the amazon rainforest using terra preta or "Dark Earth" for millennia.
These bioplastics needed to be 3 things:
So I focused on those factors in my material exploration.
So my material experimentation was focused on building those properties with a biochar foundation.
The form, following my material exploration, had to balance ergonomics for the users who were marine biologists or mangrove caretakers and the natural systems that would ultimately take over use of the device for the longer term. The form is influenced by typical soil plugs but taking inspiration from Roman Spears, the project called for a form that was effective at piercing and holding in place under the tide force.
TIDE MARK:
A shoreline marker with biodegradable elements that responds to eutrophic events.
A two-part biochar-based planting plug engineered for mangrove regeneration in nutrient-rich, erosion-prone environments.
