ECO-SUSTAINABLE PURIFIER
Do you know the plastic caps which often pollute the sea and the streets? In Trentino Alto Adige they found the solution on how to best recycle them. And they use them to build eco-sustainable purifiers.
ECO-SYSTEMS PURIFIER FROM RECYCLING PLASTIC CAPS
The project is by the Eco-sistemi company, a small, young company founded as a spin-off of the University of Pavia and attracted to Trentino by innovation funding. With 1000 kilos of used bottle caps, a reactor can be built that works as follows: bacterial colonies nestle on the bottle caps and literally eat the dirt, purifying wastewater. The recycled bottle caps, from carbonated drinks, alcoholic beverages, and detergents, are used instead of printing new plastic parts, providing an important element of "circularity" to the RCBR reactor. pin They are placed in a steel basket that, rotating in the dirty water, allows the formation of a bacterial film that breaks down the dissolved component of organic pollutants. This significantly reduces energy consumption and operating costs.
HOW THE ECO-SUSTAINABLE PURIFIER WORKS
The first Eco-sistemi purifier, built only with recycled bottle caps, was sold to the Hordeum brewery in Novara and is able to recover 5,5 cubic meters of wastewater per day., which corresponds to the pollution load of a small town of 300 inhabitants. Further installations followed at other breweries and industries such as FIAT and Johnson & Johnson.
And where are the recycled plastic caps purchased? "Our main suppliers are volunteer organizations that carry out this work locally, and so we fund assistance projects in schools and for the poor." This confirms that in a circular economy, where nothing is wasted, everyone benefits.
The project is a candidate for the 2023 Non Sprecare Award, in the Companies section. To submit your projects, follow the instructions provided. here.
HOW TO REDUCE PLASTIC CONSUMPTION:
- Plastic water bottles: there are too many of them
- How to recycle plastic bottles
- Plastic straws: all the alternatives
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