Design Map · Eindhoven
Bathing in Waste Streams
Graduation project by Sarah Maurer at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
To make ‘Bathing in Waste Streams’, Sarah Maurer burned her own household waste, transformed the resulting ash into soap and cast it into the form of a bathtub. The object confronts the paradox of cleanliness: what is washed away never truly disappears. In Switzerland, where household refuse is incinerated, around 20% remains as bottom ash or Schlacke in German. This non-combustible residue continues to interact with the environment through leachates and gases. By translating an industrial waste process into the domestic ritual of bathing, the project questions the assumption that disposal marks an endpoint. The work collapses the perceived distance between everyday acts of consumption and the infrastructures that process their remains, inviting viewers to reconsider where waste really goes.