Materia - A community experience of creative recycling with technologies
MATERIA is a community process on the reuse of plastics, led by the communal coworking space of Ruvo di Puglia, La Capagrossa. All the citizens (administration, schools,shops,entrepreneurs,etc.) are involved in the collection of the plastic wastes that are used in free laboratories dedicated to children and adults. Over the years,La Capagrossa became a territorial reference for training,research and small prototyping in the context of 3d making and sustainable design.
Local
Italy
Ruvo di Puglia (Bari)
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
ENCC UP Grants
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): La Capagrossa Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Ivan Cosimo Last name of representative: Iosca Gender: Male Nationality: Italy Function: President Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Martiri delle foibe 23 Town: Ruvo di Puglia Postal code: 70037 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+393495350036 E-mail:info@lacapagrossa.it Website:http://www.lacapagrossa.it
In 2019, our Cultural Association - La Capagrossa organised the first laboratory on circular economies: Ruvo Circolare, with the aim of investigating the flows of materials that cross the city and investigate possible uses of them, through the involvement of the city community. The observations that emerged on that occasion led LC to reflect on possible activation methods and to study the different practices already existing in the world, including the world current Precious Plastic, until the Materia project was launched in 2021.
During the last year, the various machines necessary to cover the complete plastics reuse process have been purchased and manufactured: shredder machines, injection machines, petbots and 3d printers, which are positioned within the coworking space and can be used by all associates who request it. In parallel, a citizen open call was activated, aimed at companies, local shops, associations and citizens, for the collection of disposable plastic bottle caps. Currently, the production of caps is very costly for the environment in terms of the use of raw materials: however, unlike other plastic materials, the caps are 100% recyclable. The call was answered by numerous stakeholders: bars and pizzerias that daily use a large number of caps, but also bookstores and shops that have offered themselves as a collection point for citizens. The caps collected are used as experimental material to create some prototypes of gadgets during the workshops.
The general action line of the project are:
reuse of plastics with all the local community;
involvement of the business local shops;
free education and researches for young and adults;
production of design products, aesthetic object and creation of a brand of the city.
Creativity
Sustainability
Empowerment
Resources
Community
The aim of Materia is to make possible the transformation of waste materials from refuse to secondary raw material at a local level.
In daily life, we are used to thinking about the objects we use in a linear way: we buy, use, throw away, without asking ourselves where the waste ends up. Materia, on the other hand, wants to work on the circularity of production, teaching the inhabitants of Ruvo di Puglia not only that it is possible to reuse plastics, but also by providing the tools to reuse them. In fact, Materia makes the machinery, settled in the La Capagrossa coworking space, available to children, students and adults: it teaches them how to reuse waste, how the machinery works, but also what it is possible to create and how. One of the objectives of the project, in fact, is also to carry out an aesthetic research on what is possible to produce. Last year, for example, a long search was carried out for the creation of the first city gadget made of recycled plastic.
The objectives of Materia are, in summary:
● To raise awareness among citizens on the need to reduce the production of new plastics through a collection of plastic caps which makes their current use visible and quantifiable
● Train citizens on the different types of plastics, highlighting the differences between those that are completely recyclable and those that cannot be recycled and enable more and more people to autonomously use machineries and to design objects to be made from recycled plastic, through free workshops.
From a technical point of view, the process is characterised by elements that guarantee the sustainability and continuity of the project activities:
-collection from waste to secondary raw material;
-use of open source machinery in an open environment (coworking space), allow for the -infinite reuse of plastic (shredder - injectors);
-moulds to give shape to the object and use of 3d printers;
-aesthetic solutions that make the recycled material interesting and salable.
The process that generates the design of the products we make is not an end in itself but the result of a journey of knowledge of both the territory and the emotions of the people who live there. The outcome of this investigation generates the form. Through the design workshops, we help people, who have no skills in the matter, to acquire the basis for translating concepts about tradition and their emotions into a new aesthetic form.
Ours is just one goal: to produce objects that are linked to tradition but speak the language of the present.
One of the most successful experiences was the creation of a pastry cutter which had the aim of reworking the tradition of fresh pasta, through the concept of experience, understood as an activity.
The designed object is ergonomic and embodies two functions: the cutting of the dough and the impression of a pattern on the dough. This pattern, once again, is rooted in the local tradition because it reproduces the rose window of the thousand-year-old Romanesque cathedral, the symbol par excellence of our city.
The designed pastry cutter allows you to make "Rosoni, the new pasta of Puglia", as visible in the photos and in the attached packaging documents.
This object is designed to be highly replicable: the pastry rings can represent different places in the Apulian region, reproducing from time to time the rose window of the different city cathedrals.
The Materia project intends to create a real hub of territorial reference for the reuse of plastics at the Capagrossa Coworking space: a place open to citizens and accessible for all. Already during the first year of experimentation, the activities aroused the interest of a multitude of local players. Entrepreneurs, schools, traders and citizens, as we wrote before, but also other associations inside and outside the city of Ruvo di Puglia.
We have held in blended mode online and in presence at La Capagrossa coworking, many free research activities regarding the reuse of materials and in particular plastics open to different target citizens, supported through the participation at open call for funds and the sale of products made from recycled material.
These activities have been planned for adults but also for primary school children by adapting them to an understandable language and managing research and experimentation with the learning by doing approach.
For the first time in our area, it was possible for anyone to approach plastic recycling processes and experiments in a concrete and participatory way. Citizens of all ages have learned so many notions about plastic, about technological and innovative machinery, they have known the 3D’s draw programs, have contributed to the collection of material and have participated in creative processes of creation.
The future perspective of this project is to create a virtuous circle of recycling and production in a community e-commerce system, but also to involve groups of citizens that we have minimally intercepted in recent years (e.g. the disabled, foreigners, the elderly).
The activities of La Capagrossa always involve the city network of local associations and territorial actors. For projects on plastic recycling, these stakeholders are involved in every operational phase. In fact, our organisation seeks to involve entities that do not deal directly with recycling and sustainability, making clear the importance of everyone's collaboration in order to bring about substantial change and lay the foundations for a society that is active in protecting the environment.
In this case, traders, restaurateurs, administrative offices and ordinary citizens have been called to collect and deliver plastic caps: containers with the project's brand were made available and an online map was created with the active collection points where citizens can also bring theirs.
Associations, groups of citizens and companies have been involved in training and prototyping of gadgets using recycled plastic and the whole process has been made public. During a creative workshop, the citizens came up with the creation of a pastry cutter: an object that is used in the kitchen to give shape to the pasta that had the mold of the rose window of the Ruvo di Puglia’s Cathedral. So an experimentation for the creation of this object immediately started.
The marketing and sale of gadgets leads us to interact with the city network but also to promote free workshops open to all in which to talk about plastic recycling and experiment practical moments of collaboration and use of machinery. Furthermore, the creation of these objects, using plastic donated by people, creates a virtuous process of circular economy that involves different target citizens, and allows the sustainability of training workshops and recycling activities.
Materia is above all a community and proximity project and, up to now, has worked above all on a local and city scale.
The local administration was immediately involved in the Materia project: La Capagrossa, in fact, is a municipal coworking space managed by our association, which collaborates constantly with the administration to respond to the needs of the community.
Secondly, the city merchants of the historic centre were involved: those who responded to the city's open call received branded containers where the plastic caps used by the locals themselves or by the citizens who give them here are collected. Every week, one of the members of the association collects the caps which are then sorted by colour and reused.
The city's businesses are also part of this process: those that work in the making and 3D printing sector, provide support in terms of know-how for the realisation of the workshops and for formal research on the reuse of plastic.
Over time, partnerships have been activated with other informal educational realities: Sou X, a school of architecture for children located in the city of Bitonto and Bari, and also Puliamo Terlizzi ASP, a cultural association active on environmental sustainability issues in the city of Terlizzi. On both occasions, free for the participants, it was possible to illustrate the process of reuse of plastics and to experiment with the creation of new products.
More recently, we are also working on the definition of partnerships with the schools of Ruvo di Puglia and the closest towns (Molfetta and Corato).
On an international level, Materia was the winner of the ENCC UP Grants, which placed it within a European network of good practices oriented towards sustainability.
Materia's goal was to put ourselves, the citizens and the urban system in a position to respond to one of the most important challenges of the present: the immoderate and excessive use of plastic and its waste due to the linear process.
In fact, we have been convinced since the beginning of our process that to achieve real change, it is necessary for all levels of the community to work together.
The project immediately set itself the goal of connecting the different stakeholders: traders, businesses, schools, associations, making knowledge but also machinery available.
In order to respond creatively to the problems of the present, in addition to knowledge, we need to exercise critical thinking: this is why Materia laboratories are above all design laboratories, in which participants learn new skills but are committed, above all, to finding together with us new solutions.
In the workshops, basic information is first given:
Where do plastics come from, how do they differ, their chemical composition
The difference between recyclable and non-recyclable plastics
Basic notions for the use of machinery: shredder machine, injection machine, 3d prints, petbot.
Basic knowledge of using design or hand drawing software (depending on age and skills)
In the Materia laboratories we talk about sustainability but above all we talk about design as a method for responding personally to problems: they are not that of recycling plastics, understood as the correct transfer of waste to landfills, but also that of finding an aesthetic language adequate for the use of these secondary raw materials. This second objective also involves the identification of new objects to be placed on the market, which are bearers of an innovative and sustainable community practice.
The innovativeness of the project lies in several factors:
The activation of moments of creative training which, in addition to having the purpose of raising awareness of the use of plastics, triggers a proactive attitude, thanks to the “learning by doing” activities;
The idea that the reuse of plastic, with the right precautions, can be a process within everyone's reach (all Capagrossa members can request to use the machinery to produce objects on their own initiative).
The creation of a gadget for a city with a long historical tradition made of a completely innovative material that points to a sustainable future.
As regards point 1, we believe that, in our age, it is no longer enough to be trained on the correct disposal of waste. The production of waste is in fact now too impactful, and the need to move from a linear to a circular process is increasingly urgent.
While the authorities take too long to convert production processes, it is necessary for a change to take place, even from the bottom.
Open source machinery makes it possible to imagine zero-kilometre production processes, where the citizen, with critical skills, is able to directly create the objects he needs, without using new resources that are harmful to the environment.
In addition to reducing, if not eliminating the production of new plastics, it is important that the plastic already existing today does not become waste, but a material that can be used over and over again.
The desire to represent a historic city in southern Italy through an artefact made of recycled plastic is also innovative: in this way we want to tell how, even in the most peripheral contexts, innovation and experimentation through art and design can constitute a territorial regeneration driver.
The project presents a structure that can not only recur cyclically over time but is also perfectly adaptable to different target groups of beneficiaries and can be repurposed in different contexts.
In fact, the project foresees a scheme as follows:
- involvement of associations, shops, restaurants, schools, etc. in the material collection process (bottle caps or plastic bottles) and promotion of collection points;
- structuring of information and awareness meetings on the subject of plastics, presentation of the characteristics of the material, current uses and environmental impact;
- creation of co-design paths for objects from collected and recycled material (several meetings in which to present the material selection process, use of machinery, design notions, creative focus groups);
- creation of the objects designed with the citizens and sale of the same (to finance the continuation of the project).
The activities of MATERIA can be carried out in any place and almost all the machines are easily transportable.
Thus, as we have seen, all types of beneficiaries can be involved in each phase of the project. To date we have already adapted the activities from adult beneficiaries to children: we have made the information part on plastic into a game key, developed the creative co-creation phase through drawing and partially participated in the production phase of the objects by playing with the caps of plastic.
Also it would be interesting to expand this project and see what objects citizens could create to represent their city. This process of adaptation to different territories could give life to a line of objects produced in different cities through e-commerce: a unique collection of design objects made of recycled plastic at km 0.
The fundamental part of the project is the activation and participation of every single citizen in any part of the project: for this reason every action is different in terms of commitment and duration over time.
Furthermore, each action always refers to the themes of plastic and recycling, to allow to sensitise every person who comes into contact with the material project: from information lessons on the characteristics of plastics to the sole collection of the material (and awareness of the amount of plastic waste that each of us produces), it all leads back to learn about the climate crisis and sustainability.
The planned activities will produce qualitatively better results than the previous phases, as they start from the analysis of concrete needs expressed by the beneficiaries and not hypothetical; it favours the response to orders of collective needs and not of the individual; guarantees the manifestation of multiple points of view by extending the range of action and enhancing the "social capital" of the local community.
The methodologies used for the development of all the activities that involve citizens are based on "learning by doing", "education among peers", "mentoring". These allow the acquisition of information through concrete experiences and are accessible to all at all times of life. In fact, the learning methodology consists in the interaction between learners and the concrete situations referred to gain experience: the activities are carried out in groups and the educator is active in building the learning experience because he only has a support function, the participants are at the centre of their own spontaneous learning process.
All the objectives and the social impact envisaged for our project refer to the UN’s document the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, taking into account in three dimensions: economic, social and ecological. Materia is an answer to the point 12: ensure sustainable development models of production and consumption; 12.4, 12.5. Materia also responds to goal 4: quality education and goal 11: sustainable cities and communities.
The central explorative theme in the project is the education about climate change and environmental sustainability, with a focus on plastic. The project addresses the need for people to think differently about climate change by encouraging them to consider how to actively behave to reduce it.
Usually most of the awareness-raising activities on these issues are carried out by schools and aimed at the new generations, excluding a large part of citizens. For this reason all our activities are aimed at all types of people and the project will provide for real and practical opportunities for communities from different cultural and social backgrounds to meet in non-traditional and creative recycling activities (making tools and machinery accessible to the community).
The extensive involvement process activated by the Materia project has already contributed to raising awareness on the recycling of plastics and their characteristics,showing to the participants the Precious plastic platform which, in addition to explaining in detail the difference between the various types of plastics, it is possible to find all the updates and information on how to safely and autonomously reuse plastic.
In general, the variety of actions implemented made it possible to reach different targets of citizens (minors, schools, young people, families, traders, public administrations, etc.) and support the principle of circularity of km 0 resources.
In order to develop and support our awareness-raising activities about recycling and to encourage the creation of practical environmental laboratories for the experimentation of plastic reuse, we intend to use the amount coming from this open call to continue with the activities, involving schools, designers, researchers but also to make the process sustainable from an economic point of view.
We are already increasing the number of machines available in the La Capagrossa Coworking: the number of molds in order to use the injection machine but also a new 3d printer that can simultaneously shred the plastic material and realise the new objects. The new 3d printer will arrive in February. We also intend to buy a 3d laser scanner, that is useful for obtaining, in a short time, three-dimensional shapes to be reproduced or improved, or for creating objects that replace or complement existing ones, also supporting the practices of reusing broken objects.
In the coming year, we want to invest time and energy to
Continue the collection of plastic caps, eventually expand and relaunch it to include new shops and entrepreneurs
Continue with free training activities in schools or in other associations
Continue with the aesthetic and formal research activities on the reuse of plastics, with the aim of producing an attractive line of objects on the market, which can help us finance the necessary activities.
The goals achieved by Materia are listed below:
Victory of the "Spazi di prossimità" tender, promoted by the Puglia Region - Youth Policies and Social Innovation Section and ARTI Puglia Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation
Publication “Abitare Circolare”, D Editore
Winner of the ENCC UP Grants tender
For the Materia candidacy for the regional open call “Galattica - Rete Giovani Puglia”, in November 2022, several new city partnerships were obtained which are attached among the documents.
Materia fits perfectly the goals of the European competence framework on sustainability. It integrates sustainability into teaching and learning and creates a shared understanding on the deep and transformative changes needed in education and training for sustainability and the green transition. It provides citizens with opportunities to learn about the climate crisis and sustainability in non-formal education. The funds of Materia are invested in green and sustainable equipment (all the machines needed to reuse plastics).
And most of all, as written before, Materia actively involve students and staff, local authorities, youth organisations and the research and innovation community in learning for sustainability.
