Integrated Human Practices


Navigating Through Practical and Academic Waters

Throughout our iGEM journey, we consciously intertwined academic research with a potent emphasis on the tangible societal applications of our project. Engaging with a variety of stakeholders, including field experts, textile manufacturers, and business executives, not only enriched our perspective but also fine-tuned our approach to align with the real-world needs of the textile industry.

Part I: Tackling Plastic Pollution in Textile Production

Addressing Wastewater Concerns from the Get-Go

Our initial focus nestled on the pressing issue of significant wastewater discharge from textile factories during clothing production. Specifically, we targeted the residues of textile plastics present in wastewater, which often find their way into aquatic environments, thereby posing detrimental effects on ecosystems.

Prof. Hung
Hung, Chun-hsiung
Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering, NCHU (Taiwan)
Director, Environmental Protection and Safety and Health Center in NCHU
20th April 2023
  • Why him?
    In April, we still focused on decomposing plastic particles in wastewater. Professor Hung is an expert of application of molecular biological methods in environmental Engineering and wastewater biological treatment.

  • Our advantages in their opinion:
    The problem we chose to solve is what we are facing now and need to be solved the sooner the better. We chose a good and suitable pain point of the society.

  • Our shortcoming in their opinion:
    Our solution is similar to many methods that other experts have already find out. Our solution lacks innovation and new ideas which may let our way stands out from existing solutions.

  • Inspirations by interviewee:
    Professor Hung suggested us to decompose plastic by E. coli, which is easier than R. rubber that we chose. More importantly, water soluble pigment of dye wastewater released by textile factory is very hard to be decomposed from the textile or water. So we decided to combine decolorization and decomposing plastic, which will become our highlights.
Prof. Lin
Lin, Bo-xun
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering, NCU (Taiwan)
Research Focus: Wastewater Treatment and Recycling
27th April 2023
  • Why him?
    Associate Professor Lin did some research about microplastic which is what we focus on to decompose. And his profession of wastewater treatment and recycling may stimulate our thoughts.

  • Our advantages in their opinion:
    Even though some experts develop some methods for decolorization, these methods still have some problem over budget or may harm our environment. It means synthetic biology approach may become the more suitable solution for decolorization.

  • Our shortcoming in their opinion:
    Because there are too many complex substances in wastewater, our method is difficult to apply in textile wastewater. What's more, substance variability varies greatly among different textile wastewaters. It affects the effectiveness of our method.

  • Inspirations by interviewee:
    We began to re-evaluate the feasibility of the original solution because the feasibility of our method is low. We started to find out other ways that could reduce the pollution of discarded clothes for clothes are the largest pollution source of microplastics.
Prof. Lin
Lin, Jun-de
Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering, FCU
Research: Wastewater Treatment Technologies
5th May 2023
  • Why did we meet with them?
    Professor Lin specializes in wastewater treatment technologies, and we needed an expert in wastewater treatment to provide us with more relevant insights and inspiration.

  • Our inspiration from his opinion:
    Professor Lin believes that the pain points in our project's theme are not clear enough. He suggested that we should identify specific problem areas in our project. Additionally, he explained that this competition sometimes has relevance to business. So, during our discussion of our project, he recommended that we try to approach it from a business perspective. He also suggested using the commonly used SWOT analysis method in the business world to help us clarify the strengths and weaknesses of our project, among other things.
Part II: A Pivot Towards Sustainable Clothing Recycling

Journey from Plastic Breakdown to Dye Removal

Upon insightful discussions with experts, it became apparent that our initial direction of “breaking down plastics” might lack the innovative edge to tackle new, emerging issues. This realization propelled us to revisit and recalibrate our primary objective: mitigating the environmental impact of textile industry wastewater. A new approach crystallized – decomposing old clothes for recycling to alleviate the industry's environmental footprint, with the concurrent challenge of dye removal emerging as a pivotal concern.

Dr. Huang
Huang, Jin-nan
Assistant Professor of PCCU(Taiwan)
Former Senior Manager of Far Eastern New Century (One of the biggest textile company in Taiwan)
8th May 2023
  • Why did we meet with them?
    Due to Dr. Huang's experience in the textile company, we wanted to learn more about how textile companies deal with plastic nowadays. Dr. Huang can provide us with the most correct information and give us some appropriate suggestions. Thus we had a meeting with Dr. Huang to further improve our project.

  • Our advantages in their opinion:
    Dr. Huang thought our project was identical with many big companies' goal. Therefore Dr. Huang suggested us keep on studying sustainable development and other similar issues.

  • Our shortcoming in their opinion:
    Dr. Huang suggested we focus on decomposing and recycling clothes. Dr. Huang thought we were trying to solve too many problems. That might lead us to a high risk of failure.

  • Inspiration by interviewee:
    After our meeting with Dr. Huang, we improved our experiment by recording and calculating the yield, yield percentages, and carbon dioxide emission of our experiment. What's more, we revised our experiment. Our topic was to decompose plastic by synthetic biology. However, after our meeting with Dr. Huang, we changed our topic and aimed at breaking down clothes in an environmentally friendly way.
Part III: Honing in on Dye Removal

Striking a Balance Between Ambition and Feasibility

In an enlightening conversation with Professor Huang, he highlighted potential pitfalls in addressing multiple issues concurrently, which might dilute our focus and efficacy. He advised a more concentrated approach, either focusing on clothing decomposition or specifically targeting dye color removal, to ensure depth and thoroughness in problem-solving.

Research and Development Team
Research and Development Team of ShinKong Textile Company
Big company that has made clothes in Taiwan for 60 years
The team have Experts in textile, biology-related and materials-related fields.
18th August 2023
  • Why did we meet with them?
    Since our last discussion with Dr. Yeh, we believed it might be necessary to engage with experts from more relevant fields. Therefore, we reached out to Dr. Yeh's affiliated research and development team at ShinKong Textile. The individuals we interviewed this time primarily included Dr. Yeh and another two experts in biology-related and textile fields. Their office is located within the textile factory itself, giving them a profound understanding of the manufacturing processes and requirements of textile enterprises. We made a special trip to their factory in Taoyuan to uncover more challenges in the textile processes that need to be addressed and to listen to the insights and thoughts of textile companies.

  • Not recommend pursuing our primitive project
    Dr. informed us that in July, an Australian university team had already claimed to efficiently break down any form of plastic at temperatures acceptable in factories. After conducting a comprehensive comparison with our project, we found significant similarities between the two, and the Australian team has already succeeded. Furthermore, our original approach to color removal also had flaws. Dr. explained that some pigments get trapped deep within the fabric, necessitating their extraction. After careful consideration, we believe that our original plan may have limited prospects for realization in the future, and therefore, we need to change the theme of our project.

  • The project new theme she recommends.
    During our discussions with Dr. Yeh, she believed that our current method still holds value for application in the textile process. Furthermore, we suddenly realized that our method might help factories conserve water. The reason behind this is that factories often need to repeatedly wash dyed clothing. However, the water used in these washes contains residual dyes, making it impossible to reuse. For instance, New Light Company requires three tons of water for a single wash, leading to significant expenses and the consumption of Taiwan's precious water resources.

  • Inspirations by interviewees:
    After our discussion with the New Light team, our team went through a series of deliberations and realized that the scarcity of water resources has always been a problem. Additionally, in terms of industrial water consumption, the textile industry ranks fifth. This signifies that our solution indeed has the potential to improve water usage in textile factories by recycling wastewater, ultimately conserving precious water resources in Taiwan. Consequently, we decided to adjust our project theme to focus on the removal of dyes from textile wastewater to enable its reuse, thus safeguarding Taiwan's water resources.
Part IV: A Symbiosis of Environmental and Business Needs

Water Conservation Through Strategic Dye Removal in Textile Factories

Our engagement with New Ray Corporation and their R&D team unveiled that the substantial wastewater discharge during manufacturing not only levies a toll on the environment but also escalates production costs for the factories. Here, our dye removal technology emerged as a viable solution, offering a mutually beneficial outcome for both the environment and the business sector.