Zero Waste Bistro, a pop-up restaurant built for the WantedDesign Manhattan fair at the NYCxDesign Festival, is built from board made from recycled drink cartons and surface material from recycled and recyclable plastics.

The Zero Waste Bistro, designed by Finnish designer Linda Bergroth in collaboration with the Finnish Design Shop, is built from panels made from recycled Tetra Pak, a packaging material used as drink carton. The panels take their colour from the cartons. In this case, they are mottled blue tone from afar, but up close, you can still see the lettering and barcodes originally on the cartons. The panels are fabricated by ReWall in Iowa.

In addition to Tetra Pak, the restaurant also used a solid surface material called Durat, made from recycled plastic, which in turn is also recyclable.

None of the packaging materials used in the bistro contain plastic. The materials include Sulapac, made from wood from sustainably managed forests and other biodegradable biomaterials, and Koktamills, a fully repulpable disposable cup.

The bistro is co-curated by Bergroth and Harri Koskinen and helmed by chefs from Restaurant Nolla, a Nordic zero waste restaurant with the motto “Refuse, reduce, reuse, and only as last resource, recycle”. They use local and organic ingredients, as well as commonly overlooked food by-products. In addition to food, the event also includes workshops and talks centered on healthy materials, the circular economy and zero-waste fashion.

The pop-up restaurant was commissioned by the non-profit Finnish Cultural Institute. The Zero Waste Bistro is open for four days during the NYCxDesign Festival, from 19 until 22 May.

Photos: Nicholas Calcott (via Dezeen)