MILAN DESIGN WEEK . FUORI SALONE 2019

Rossana Orlandi's RO Plastic Competition - Finalist

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B O T T L E  2.0

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This is not a bottle! Even if it may be used as such or as a vase.

BOTTLE2.0 is a building block system aiming at recycling home and office PET waste through the use of its recycling as 3D filament printing to create modular containers. Each one is connectable in two different manners to achieve different geometries. The screw used to seal the cap of each bottle 2.0 fits as a male / female system installed at the bottom of the bottle to build up vertical structures. Each of the 6 sides of the bottle 2.0 is equipped with another male / female appendix that allows to assemble each bottle 2.0 by their sides. When combined these two systems offer a wide range of possibilities to create furniture. PET Plastic represents 70% of soft drinks packaging making it the most popular plastic used for packaging in the world. Few companies recycle it: after chipping it into small pieces, it is transformed into plastic filament, and ready to be used for 3D printing. This plastic remains stronger and more flexible than its counterparts ABS and PLA also used in 3D printing. In practice one may have a 3D printer at work or invest in it with friends so that many may benefit from it. For individuals that wish to recycle their own plastics and produce themselves the thread, it is now possible to invest into a machine that grinds plastics and creates the filament, which provides even more freedom in term of colours and reduces its cost by 90% from the rolls bought in commerce. Depending on the bottles recycled, colours available range from green, blue, red and transparent, allowing fantasy when using the building blocks. These blocks may then be used until they are chipped again and recycled as thread material to print new bottles 2.0.

 

The idea sprouts from the fact that our daily used of plastics create an incredible amount of waste that we in return do not know what to do with and end up never re-using. In another hand, at home or at work, most of the useful items that we have are either used for containing various supplies or are our furniture. When being a student or living in an apartment for a short amount of time we need furniture capable of being used only for that period of time, which may as well be an opportunity to create something new instead of buying cheap furniture which ends up too often being trashed away.

 

By combining these needs, BOTTLE2.0 is a building block that allows one to build anything from a stool, to a table, and even shelves in a creative way since all blocks may be used and adjusted to one’s needs, one being only limited by its own creativity. These blocks may as well be used in festivals or other public events which usually involve the creation of new furniture made of wood or metal and in that case prevent more waste of other precious resources.

 

In extreme cases these modules may as well be used to create walls and shelters and given to the poor or those who need it the most, to create stools and beds, furniture / structures separated from the ground to protect their bodies from the cold and bring a bit of comfort in their lives. As their use is not permanently defined even after they are assembled, they may as well be re-used until they need to be reprocessed and recycled anew.

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About the making:

The prototypes displayed at Rossana Orlandi were produced by Superforma, production sponsored by the Istituto Marangoni that generously financed them.