materiality and ecology of the rubber from the Amazon rainforest
2.6 Social innovation for productive conservation
Social innovation comprises the development of new methods, strategies, policies, products and services in order to promote new patterns of conviviality, socialization and production that can contribute to the enhancement of people’s wellbeing in society (Manzini, 2015; 2013; Franz et al., 2012; Mulgan, 2012; Dees and Anderson, 2006; Thompson, Alvy and Lees, 2000). Social innovation is summarized by Franz et al.
(2012: 6-‐8) as ‘new social practices with social ends and social means’ combining production factors and social practices.
Social innovation projects have been offering alternatives by combining simple technologies and traditional methods of production in small-‐scale solutions. Local rubber-‐tapping communities have embraced new methods of producing rubber in order to improve their socio-‐economic situation and to preserve their livelihoods in the rainforest. Technologies for the production of higher quality rubber have been transferred to local communities, allowing them to access new markets that thrive on differentiated materials with an ethical and ecological background. The TECBOR Project and Poloprobio are two of the important research projects for the development and transference of technology for rubber production. Both research groups focus on combining indigenous techniques of production with technological inputs to transform and improve the material.
The support of local governments, institutions, and entrepreneurs has been
fundamental to endorse innovation. A context of transformation has been experienced
by many communities whose producers are increasingly organizing themselves in cooperatives in order to support each other, manage collective production and develop projects allied to external partners. The current context of the rubber production proves that social innovation is strategically aimed towards the continuation of productive conservation of the rainforest. Collaborations and coalitions both inside and outside the rainforest are necessary, and have been generating new opportunities as new methods of producing rubber are discovered. In this context of new materials and an emergent handcraft activity, design appears to be able to make important contributions.
Since the industrial revolution, rubber has been a commercial commodity rather than a material used for in handmade artefacts. Although a few rubber products, such as shoes, were produced for local use, the fact that the material was raw and non-‐
vulcanized prevented the development of a handicraft tradition. The next section gives an overview of the old and new methods of production, demonstrating that innovation in the rainforest is both technological and creative. Through the new materials, design and crafts are becoming powerful agents of social change.
2.6.1 Technology for the production of rubber and rubber artefacts
Industrial methods have been found necessary to process the traditional kinds of commodity rubber; these are the CVP (Cernambi Virgem Prensado or Pressed Raw Rubber), GEB (Granulado Escuro Brasileiro or Brazilian Dark Granulated) and Pela. First, the liquid latex is smoked or allowed to rot. These substances, full of impurities and of low quality, are then sold to an intermediary milling plant to be reprocessed, then sold
on to the industry. The smoking process, which forms the dark ball called Pela, is toxic to humans and commonly related to cases of blindness and lung cancer (Pacheco, 2010). Industrial milling plants are also highly polluting and wasteful. According to Amaral and Samonek (2006: 18), the production of industrial rubber in the Amazon rainforest today is insignificant and no longer provides any justification for the existence of processing plants.8 For example, there was only one rubber-‐producing industrial plant functioning in the state of Acre in 2006, in Sena Madureira. However, the existence of rubber-‐processing plants is still important, as there are still
communities who live off this system.9
Figure 2.25: Rolls of smoked rubber known as pela (date unknown). Figure 2.26: Rubber tappers weigh the raw rubber known as cernambi a granel, which is coagulated naturally by rotting in cups. Figure 2.27: Blocks of pressed
raw rubber (Cernambi virgem prensado – CVP).
Innovative methods of producing rubber have been directed both to industry and to the making of design and crafts products. Instead of focusing on the industry and external market alone, these methods also respect the rubber tappers and the rainforest. They are simple technologies, which result in new kinds of rubber, of an
8 The milling plants are small factories which function as intermediaries between rubber tappers and the industry.
The plants process the raw rubber produced by the rubber tappers, then sell it on. The price they pay the tappers for the raw rubber can be very low – at the time of writing less than £1/kg (one pound sterling per kilo) – unless there are governmental subsidies that may add about 20 per cent onto the usual price of the material.
9 A new rubber-‐milling plant is being implemented in Sena Madureira at the time of writing (2014-‐2015) with the aim of consuming all the commodity rubber produced in the state of Acre. The objective is that producers should have a guaranteed buyer for their products. This is an initiative of the local government, together with rubber-‐
improved quality, which can be used for different applications and attract better prices. They are the outcomes of research that aims to provide options for rubber production that are healthier and less polluting, and respect the way of life of the traditional populations while at the same time generating a higher economic return.
The transference of technology to the local communities takes place through a combination of multiple efforts and investments by local governments as well as by national and international institutions. However, most importantly, innovation is generated through the perception and proactive will of the rubber-‐tapping populations to transform these technologies into opportunities for themselves.
Nowadays, different kinds of rubber have been produced in the states of Acre, Rondônia, Pará and Amazonas, and in neighbouring countries such as Colombia, Peru and Bolivia (WWF, 2014: 15). The adoption of methods for the production of rubber sheets has been replacing the earlier kinds of commodity rubbers; there are now about four different methods of manufacturing rubber sheets that eliminate the intermediary processing plants. The option of producing rubber sheets as a commodity has guaranteed medium-‐term work for entire communities, as the material is ordered in bulk. Industrial applications can vary, but at the moment shoe soles are the main applications. French companies Veja (Figure 2.28) and Piola (Figure 2.29) buy rubber sheets from local communities in Brazil and Peru respectively (WWF, 2014: 9). The Brazilian company Mercur applies this raw material in the fabrication of numerous products such as medical utensils, stationery, sports equipment and small everyday
appliances. These companies order many tons of rubber each year, maintaining a continuing relationship with the rubber-‐tapper communities.
Figure 2.28: Veja Shoes trainers produced with FDL rubber from Acre, Brazil. Figure 2.29: Piola shoes, produced from rubber sheets produced by communities of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest.
The rubber sheets used by Veja and Mercur in their products are among the materials developed by the Technological Chemistry Laboratory (LATEQ) at the University of Brasilia (UnB), coordinated by Brazilian chemists Pastore Jr. and Vanda de Souza. Since the 1990s, this group has focused their studies on non-‐wood products from the
Amazon rainforest, with the intention of reinstating traditional activities that
contribute to social and environmental sustainability (Pastore Jr., 2011: 12-‐14). Figures 2.31 and 2.32 show FSA being made in the LATEQ production unit at UNB in 2004.
Figure 2.30 and Figure 2.31: Production of FSA in the production unit of LATEQ at the University of Brasília, 2004.
In order to develop projects in this area, three building blocks were established: firstly, socio-‐economic research into the non-‐wood activities of productive conservation of the Amazon rainforest, which resulted in a series of short documentaries; secondly, the organization of an encyclopaedia cataloguing Amazonian plants; thirdly,
technological research into the improvement of productive conservation activities, such as the production of natural essences and oils, and the processing of wild rubber.
That third building block – the technological research – grew into the project and research group titled Technology for the Rubber Production and Rubber Artefacts from the Amazon Rainforest and known as TECBOR. To date, TECBOR’s research outcomes comprise the following three rubber technologies developed for adoption by the traditional communities:
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(ii) Semi-‐Artefact Rubber Sheet (FSA – Folha Semi-‐Artefato)
Figure 2.33: FSA rubber sheets produced by the community of Parque das Ciganas, Acre, 2012.
FSA comes as coloured rubber sheets which are vulcanized (Section 2.2.1: p.36) and are therefore suitable for the manufacture of handcrafts and design products. FSA is a rubber ready to be applied, as is leather or conventional fabric. The manipulation of FSA during its solidification enables the manufacture of artefacts. This is the material that I work with, and which is related to the social innovation process that I bring to the fore in Chapters 6 and 7. The process and the opportunities for social innovation of this new material are described in Section 2.6.1.
(iii) Amazonian Rubberized Textile (TEA – Tecido Emborrachado da Amazônia)
TEA is a method used to rubberize fabrics which dispenses with the smoking process; it is replaced by liquid vulcanization. The process combines the principles of FDL and FSA in the way that they produce vegetable leather – but this process differs from those used to produce vegetable leather by eliminating the smoking and the harsh
chemicals. Moreover, while vegetable leather is predominantly brown, a TEA rubberized textile retains the colour and texture of the fabric. It is, at the time of writing, a result of the most recent research from TECBOR/LATEQ laboratory, which was taught to the community of Jamaraquá in the State of Para in 2014, and is still in the initial stages of integration into the rubber activity of this community.
Figure 2.34: Rubberised Textile (TEA) in a drying box. Photo: Isabella Henrique, 2016.
These three techniques have similar methods of production, which will be explained through the production of the FSA rubber sheet in the following section. These technologies of rubber production have been transferred to communities from the states of Acre, Amazonas and Pará through alliances between the local cooperatives and the public sector, the private sector and the University of Brasilia.