Bringing advanced recycling of composite materials and the ecological transition directly to where waste is generated, shortening the distances between scientific research, the industrial fabric and citizens: this is the objective of YouRban , a European project coordinated by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Politecnico di Milano , which has just ended. The technological core of the project is a mobile and itinerant truck-based plant designed and implemented for the on-site treatment and reprocessing of end-of-life composite materials, and in particular fibreglass . It is a highly versatile material: it is used for skis, tennis rackets, some automotive components, wind turbine blades and construction materials.
The project involved seven partners from Italy, Spain, Austria and Lithuania, and was funded by the European Union within the New European Bauhaus (NEB) programme. Specifically, the truck was developed in collaboration with the start-up Fibereuse Tech and the Origoni&Steiner studio, according to a modular and scalable model: this makes it replicable and customisable based on the specific needs of industrial districts or the different types of materials to be treated .
“The real strength of YouRban was to demonstrate that technological innovation can and must leave laboratories to meet people and territories. Seeing the transformation of waste into new products live allowed citizens to experience first-hand the value of the circular economy,” explains Marcello Colledani , faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and head of the YouRban project.
With the end of the testing phase, in fact, the most promising future practical scenarios for this new technology are now opening up. Among the main applications, in addition to raising citizens’ awareness through participation and the development of local events, there is the provision of on-demand services for companies : the truck can in fact travel to different production districts to treat production waste directly on site, eliminating waste transport costs. “Another highly significant scenario is the management of major events , such as the Fiera dell’Artigianato or Design Week, true institutions of the Milan area where the high concentration of temporary installations requires rapid and virtuous solutions for treating and transforming residues,” adds Colledani. Finally, the flexibility of the vehicle makes it possible to manage logistics in remote and hard-to-reach areas , bringing recycling directly on site: it can be used in wind farms , for example, facilitating the treatment of turbine blades that have reached the end of their life.
YouRban was also created with a strong mission of participation and public awareness: the plant is in fact transparent , and visually shows citizens the concrete value of circularity thanks to windows that make it possible to see the plant in operation even though it is inside a closed container.
The YouRban project validated its technologies in the field with two important public stops in Milan and Barcelona and a third, in reduced form, in Vienna. On these occasions, the Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano was also involved: “Our role was to support the creativity of the project development of the designers and artists selected through open calls,” explains Stefano Maffei , faculty member in the Department of Design. The international designers transformed the composite materials recycled by the mobile plant into functional prototypes of urban furniture and objects, concretely demonstrating the technical and aesthetic feasibility of the circular economy.
The truck will be presented at the Engineering Festival , organised as every year by Politecnico di Milano at its Leonardo and Bovisa campuses on 19 and 20 September. It will be possible to see the truck in operation, subject to press accreditation by replying to this email, on Saturday 19 September , at the Bovisa campus, in via Raffaele Lambruschini .