On the 21st of January we spoke with Emília Freite from Jornal de Negocios to share our story around circular economy and be part of a group of 4 pioneer projects that are creating valuable products out of by-products and different waste streams.
Following the philosophy of the three ‘R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, there are more and more entrepreneurs creating products from waste from other industries in their regions. We spoke with four of them, who developed projects in very different areas.
The objective is to stop the use of finite resources and imitate nature, where “nothing is lost and nothing is created, everything is transformed” (Lavoisier). With this concept in mind, there has been an increasing number of companies, mainly start-ups but not only, that seek to take advantage of the waste of industries around them to create new products, which are also recyclable. Sneakers made with plastic taken from the ocean (like the Zouri or Skizo), or the recyclable boots from Lemon Jelly are already known, but there are many entrepreneurial examples that are working to give new uses to waste.
This is the case with Plasblock, TailoredTile, Spawnfoam and Jinja, among many others. The fact that sustainability is “in fashion”, that there is a demand for this type of product, also helps its proliferation. And, as we will see, there is potential for creating from waste in areas as diverse as Logistics, Architecture and Design, as well as Decoration and Home & Garden.
From Blocks to “tiles”
Miguel Ferreira, from a family ceramics company in the Leiria area, explains that “Plasblock emerged from our passion to find opportunities in physical resources that are not being used”.
Plasblock produces blocks for wooden pallets 100% composed of mixed polymeric waste and polymeric biomass, which are also recyclable, and can be returned to the company “at the end of their life cycle to be transformed into new blocks”, emphasizes the entrepreneur.
(translated from original text in Portuguese)
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