Reciplast, the Politecnico project on the circular economy lands at Trafil
Try looking inside your plastic bin. Ask yourself how quickly you fill it and with what. If plastic pick-up is on Monday morning, at what point are you on Thursday? Is the bin empty, half full or already overflowing of rubbish that you don’t know where to hide?
If you are in the last situation, packaging is probably the issue. Many companies continue to ignore the number one enemy of our Planet, namely bulky and difficult-to-recycle plastic. We often have an empty container to throw away for every item we buy and unfortunately it is almost always made of non-recycled plastic. We struggle to squeeze it into the bin and we anxiously wait for the truck on Monday that comes to pick it up, so that it disappears to our sight. But then, where does this plastic go?
RECIPLAST, A GREEN PROJECT AMONG POLITECNICO, CONSORZIO PROPLAST AND COMPANIES
In 2019, thanks to funds of the Piedmont Region, the DISAT and DIATI departments of the Politecnico of Turin started working on an innovative projects: Reciplast is an approach to the circular economy in the packaging sector, for the recycling of plastic products from industrial waste and at the end of the cycle, downstream of use by the end-consumer.
The goal of the Politecnico team was to improve environmental sustainability also through research applied by several local companies, thanks to the development of a post-consumer plastic separation and recycling process.
Starting from existing technologies, new solutions were identified and developed. Thanks to these techniques, project partner companies can now separate and recover components of plastic that were previously difficult or impossible to recycle and recover in other industrial processes. In this way, the percentage of wasted plastic is significantly decreased.
In addition to the technology that enables the separation between components, Reciplast also worked on new applications for materials that can replace existing non-recyclable polymers.
The project ended in June 2022, leaving valuable new insights to the participating companies.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND POLYMERS: A RECYCLED LINE WAS BORN IN TRAFIL
Imagine a new swimming pool in your garden. Or a path of strong, waterproof planks walking on a beach. Imagine an outdoor floor, the furnishings of a park, the tables of a bar outside on a beautiful sunny day. Then step inside the house and look at the walls: the skirting boards, the finish that makes the room look coherent and elegant. Look at the furniture, the accessories in the kitchen, in the bathroom. The rods that hold the curtains, the window frames. The devices that make the house safe for children, such as corner covers.
Now imagine all this, as it is, but made from totally recycled plastic. With Trafil products, this is not pure fantasy but everyday reality. The company, which has been interested in keeping its operations sustainable for years, worked steadily by first doing “what was necessary” for the environment, reusing its own plastic waste for production. Then it decided to participate in Reciplast process, for the three years of its life, and adopted the new technologies in the company to create the Trafilgreen line.
TAFIL WEARS GREEN
The new Trafilgreen line offers numerous products, from corner covers to tubes, then slats, panel in different sizes and several skirting board models. All made of 100% recycled plastic.
Trafilgreen was not born at just any old time. Trafil decided to inaugurate the new eco-friendly line for the 30th anniversary of the company foundation: the first step towards a future where companies work with the Planet, instead of exploiting it.
Discover the NEW catalog
where you will find a section
dedicated to the new green products.