The Polyfloss Factory

Turn plastic waste into wool

Antananarivo, Madagascar

2018 - 2023

The Polyfloss Factory

Between 2018 and 2023, Ndao Hanavao invited the design collective The Polyfloss Factory to set up locally their original technical process for transforming plastic waste into wool.

Once the plastic has been identified, collected, cleaned and then shredded according to a protocol studied and set up with the Ndao Hanavao laboratory, it is transformed by the Polyfloss machines, whose process is inspired by the manufacture of ‘candyfloss’, and becomes an innovative fibre with multiple applications, ranging from insulation and packaging to textile creations and moulding techniques.

This project has enabled young Madagascans in the Ndao Hanavao laboratory to be trained in the process implemented by the designers, with a view to building a sustainable ecological business around this technique. Polyfloss wool and its by-products are now marketed by R’Art Plast, an eco-responsible Madagascan company set up in 2022 by 5 beneficiaries of the Ndao Hanavao project.

The Polyfloss Factory

The Polyfloss Factory project was developed at the Royal College of Art in London in 2011. The team, comprising Audrey Gaulard (textile and robotic designer), Nick Paget (industrial designer), Christophe Machet (mechanical systems engineer and designer) and Émile De Visscher (materials science engineer and designer), was exploring ecological issues and decided to devise a process for recycling plastic at a local level.
After conducting various tests, the designers discovered that one of the interesting features of plastic was that it could form foam – a property which is difficult to achieve with any other everyday material. They therefore decided to produce foam from recycled plastic using a method similar to candy floss making.