WASTE FAB LAB: Cities are great undiscovered mines of waste materials and local economic networks (circular economy).
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?
Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?
Team
Servizi ospedalieri Spa
Over 1.400
Alberto
Franceschini
Research&Development and Innovative and Development of Special Health Projects Manager
Italy
2014
, FE, Ferrara
In future any European country
New products & services: Entries in this category develop and offer essentials product and services that address needs currently unmet, Inclusive supply chains: Entries in this category implement efficient, sustainable and inclusive supply chains, Job Creation: Entries in this category create new jobs for people away from the labor market.
Semifinalist @ European Social Innovation Competition
- Indica Srl
- Business
- SME engaged in research and advisory services for public administrations, businesses and third sector organizations. It designs and experiments new governance and management tools for environmental, social and economic sustainability, for products and services quality, for wellness in general.
- It will guarantee the expertise and the know how for the implementation of the Waste Fab Lab thanks to the experience gained through the implementation of the Life+ project LOWaste.
- Impronta Etica
- Non-profit association
- Consortium of companies for the promotion and development of sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
- It will guarantee a direct dialogue with the industry and CSR network.
- Coordinamento Agenda 21
- Non-profit association
- Composed by 500 Italian local authorities has the aim to improve the management of the environment and to boost the process for the creation of sustainable and smart cities.
- It will guarantee the possibility to have a direct interaction with the Public Administration and the utilities. In the future, thanks to its network, it will give us the possibility to make the project scalable favoring the knowledge sharing.
We will create several economic, social and environmental local benefits:
• The direct creation of new jobs and activities within the social infrastructure.
• The improvement of social inclusion and social cohesion through job placement for people in need
• The indirect creation of new jobs boosted by the related activities of the new value chain
• The development of the market for the “hacked” waste (considered as a resource) definable in terms of created value
• The dissemination of knowledge and information on prevention, reuse and recycling definable in terms of avoided waste
• The increase of the connections between consumers, retailers, manufacturers and local authorities about the possibility of sharing ideas to create jobs and to reduce waste by reusing or buying green green products definable in terms of avoided waste and the new services and products available
Customers.
In order to have a long-term impact, the Waste Fab Lab has to be recognized as a social infrastructure that has a crucial function for the community. This is the reason way we think that the ecosystem seeding carried through different activities (training, education, co-design of new products and services), will create the common background necessary for the society to internalize the idea of circular economy boosted through social innovation. In the long-run the Waste Fab Lab will survive on his own feet, without any public financing, because the local community will access the different services available in the infrastructure. Through selling second life products, secondary raw materials and services related to the use of the scanner and the 3D printer it will be possible to have constant cash flows.
During a meeting between the partners La Città Verde, Impronta Etica and Indica we decided to make a focus on the waste streams generated by the companies that are members of Impronta Etica.
It came out that one of them, Servizi Ospedalieri Spa, had a precious type of waste: a Reusable Technical Textiles utilized in hospitals that, in compliance with UNI EN 13795, after being used 70 times had to be considered as waste and therefore was disposed.
It has been immediately clear that the precious waste should be considered as something else than just waste! Through LOWaste for action (http://www.lowaste.it/lowaste-for-action/) we defined all the ingredients of the LOWaste recipe: services, products, co-designer, community, experts.
The idea for the creation of the Waste Fab Lab in Ferrara came out spontaneously as the natural consequence of the LOWaste project.
The Waste Fab Lab have two types of problems: one related to the Italian legislation, the other with the Italian culture.
Considering the normative issue, the Italian law guarantee much easier conditions for the industrial waste producers that consider the materials as waste instead of secondary raw materials.
From the cultural point of view the Waste Fab Lab represent a first experiment of social infrastructure for the management of reuse and recycle of waste also taking into account the industrial processes and mixing them with social innovation.
The way to overcome the legislative barriers had been a call on waste legislation to be submitted by the representatives of national institutions that identified critical limits on waste regulation in order to make a concrete proposal.
About the cultural issue we already started a process of sensitization of all partners of Impronta Etica
For the implementation of the Waste Fab Lab project we have signed a collaboration portocoll with local authorities as guarantee: inside the contract are defined the roles and the commitments of each partner.
The collaboration between large companies, cooperatives, individuals, communities and institutions is a real chance for local sustainable development. A clear and innovative process of defining common objectives leads to the transformation of local economic processes, overcomes the limitations of traditional hierarchical programming in favor of a collaborative economy and horizontal subsidiarity. Needs, evidence, efficiency of resources, design thinking and accountability and the internet of things are characteristics of this new economy.
Competences: the material is not only waste but it’s possible to acquire expertise about its features and its functions. The collaboration allows a large enterprise to recognize new needs and discover innovation and open innovation. The PA becomes faster and more efficient.
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