DISPO
CONCEPT
Design Criteria
Circular Business
Recycling face masks is essential to not increase single-use plastic pollution.
Hospitals
Health workers are the first consumer of disposable face masks.
They work to help people. In a similar way, this project aims to help them.
Case Study
Plastic bottle caps (those with the PE, 2 or HDPE brand, so to speak) can be recycled in many ways. A ton of plastic caps, which corresponds to more than 400 thousand caps, makes about 150 to 200 euros depending on the collection center, a sum of money that could cover the cost of buying a wheelchair.
The reference model for the collection of plastic caps is a French reality, a voluntary association active for several years which, not surprisingly, is called Bouchons d'Amour. The gathering of volunteers from this association made it possible to build an orphanage in Madagascar and to carry out various other projects for the handicapped.
More than twenty wheelchairs have been donated to the Fondazione Istituto Ospedaliero di Sospiro by the group of volunteers who have taken care of collecting bags and sacks of plastic caps. In several years of activity, more than 30 thousand kilos of corks have been collected and processed, also thanks to the collaboration of numerous school complexes in the area.
Fondazione Sospiro - Onlus
Future Team at Adidas identifies trends and investigates new materials and technologies for its products. They have developed a fully recyclable sneaker. It is Adidas' first foray into the concept of closed-loop design, whereby materials used in products are infinitely reusable. Developing closed-loop products is seen as a key step towards turning the global economy into a circular one, in which waste and pollution are eliminated while natural systems are restored.
The prototype shoe is made of a single recyclable material, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), meaning that at the end of its life the plastic can be ground up into pellets and reused.
Futurecraft Loop - Adidas
Proposed Circular System
As Plaxtil has demonstrate, recycling face masks is possible. The idea at the bottom of the project is to create a circular business that re-start with face masks used in the hospitals. Following the french method, they will be collected, put in quarantine for 4 days, decontaminated with UV lights for almost 30 seconds, cut of the metallic part, grounded round into small pieces, and at the end mixed with a binding material.
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Thanks to these process, I will be able to create new objects, any objects, but I will focus on the one that last longer inside the hospitals.
Design Opportunities
Small Objects
Small objects, like Stethoscope can be produced. In this case the new material must be soft and malleable.
Small objects require less material and more of them can be made.
Medium Objects
Prosthesis, cruch, cane, sted can be an option. The new material must be hard, strong and resistant.
Medium objects require a certain amount of material and a good quantity of them can be manufactured.
Big Objects
Wheelchairs, gurney, hospital bed and cart can be made. For them, the new material must be hard, strong and resistant as for the medium objects.
Big objects require the biggest amount of material which implies a less production of them.
Objects for Research
Objects dedicated to the study of a particular surgery or anatomy of an organ. For it, the new material must have a different consistency based on what needs to be replicate.
Educational Objects
Objects used to explain and visualise better the anatomy of the body to medical student but also to patients and their families. In this example, the new material needs to be hard and resistent.