Menu
Menu
When analyzing the path of waste plastic materials, we notice that the path of waste plastic packaging is very complex, non-transparent, that there is also completely contradictory information in popular science sources about recycling and the proportions of plastic recycling in the world and in our country.
Therefore, the project focused on the analysis of the cycle of plastic products such as toothbrushes, plastic cosmetics, plastic toys, plastic office supplies, plastic waste from construction and industrial plastic waste, where data is more easily accessible, the stakeholder chain is shorter and the amount of plastic waste is just as large as in packaging.
Within the NovIKroG project, we tried to extend the life span of surplus materials from the local environment with the help of the circular green public procurement tool or close these material flows as circularly as possible. This means that fewer materials go to incineration or landfill and more materials are recovered as a secondary raw material back into the production process. This saves natural resources and reduces CO2 emissions.
We collected two streams of plastic, the first collected through a collection campaign of packaging at schools and kindergartens of the Municipality of Novo mesto. We collected 282.2 kg of plastic packaging waste, of which 84.20 kg were unsuitable packaging or other types of waste.
At the Knof Institute, all received plastic collected by children as part of the collection campaign was manually inspected, classified according to the type of plastic and usefulness, and processed into new useful products.
The second stream represents the technological residue of the local enterprise in the form of polypropylene sleeves.
Plastic sleeves are used to produce larger boards from recycled plastic in size approx. 2.5m x 1.25m, from which we made prototype pieces of office furniture (desk and polyčnik) as part of the project.
Based on feedback from the material collection campaign, we made a workshop between representatives of Komunala Novo mesto and the Knof Institute on the topic of designing a more optimal model for collecting waste materials, with an emphasis on plastic waste.
We found out that school and kindergarten kitchens have a satisfactory amount of useful plastic packaging (HDPE2 and PP5), which could still be separately collected at Komunala Novo mesto (special, separate collection point). Employees of a school or kindergarten have a very high level of responsibility towards society and the environment and act sustainably and responsibly. This would ensure that all collected packaging is clean, that is, certainly usable.
All collected packaging at the collection and recycling centre with a press would be pressed into a cube or bale and handed over to interested companies for further processing or use for the production of new products. The logistics of transporting packaging to the collection point at the Municipal Communal would be carried out by staff employed at the school or kindergarten on the way home or without additional transport, thus achieving the lowest possible carbon footprint. A responsible attitude towards the environment also takes into account values such as moderation and austerity. Schools, kindergartens and businesses can use environmentally and socially responsible behaviour to increase their reputation and achieve positive economic impacts.
