THE OUTDOOR'S PLAYGROUND

Idea category

A playground made by recycled marine plastic wastes

Authors

The authors of this idea are a group of diverse members that took part in the Plastic Twist science café and workshop in Athens. The group is compound of people from NGOs, environmental consulting firms and an illustrator and writer.

Description of the idea

By collecting marine plastic waste from the clean-up activities, plastic industries will produce a plastic resin to create benches, canoes, tiles, swings and other types of outdoor equipment.

The litter collected by citizens and volunteers during the clean up the med campaigns across Greece will be sent back to the plastic industry. The plastic producers will cooperate with labs to separate the plastic litter, clean it and process it to convert it in a mold to be used by other manufactures or by themselves.

The target market or target audience of the idea

The local community will be involved in collecting the plastic, while the plastic industry will receive the litter and provide experts to research in process to make molds to be given to architects, engineers, other manufactures. The local authorities will support the creation of outdoor playgrounds and will sponsor their installation and maintenance.

The challenges of the target market and/or target audience the idea solves

The idea contributes to boost the relationship between local community, the plastic industry and the local authorities by integrating the process of cleaning the beaches until reaching a zero litter discharge to the environment. The community receives the benefits in playground for kids, benches, canoes, and other items that could be placed in public open spaces, and the industry producers will take responsibility in the lifecycle of plastic products complying with the sustainability goals, what will make them more competitive.

The uniqueness of the idea and the Unique Selling Points of it

The idea is unique since currently there is no any use given to the litter found during the clean-ups in Greece and on the other hand it is being disposed in conventional landfills.

The PlasticTwist tools that the idea use 

The Plastic Twist tools will help in the creation and functionality of the market around new plastic resin from reusable plastic waste. Plastic manufactures who receive the resin will be able to market their products using the marketplace and bidding tool, while the dashboard and the crowdsourcing will provide an extensive net of other users to get involved with.

The game of plastic twist will be used as awareness tool to teach kids about plastic pollution.

Machinery and tools need to be used to prototype or produce the idea

The production of the plastic resin will be a next step were experts need to research about the processes required to create a mold. Machinery and tools will be identified by lab testing with the different types of plastic collected.

Type of (recycled) materials is used

Plastic waste from marine litter

Business/Scale and Impact 

For this idea there will be a 3 year business plan for the design and the production of plastic resin from marine plastic waste.

The initial two years are for industry research and testing about the accurate processes to develop a resin. The following year will be focused on product design to create the outdoors equipment. During the last year, architects, engineers and local authorities will also install the outdoors furniture.

The idea will be disseminated with festivals, social media, co-operation of NGOs to raise environmental awareness in locals and the industry

PLASTIC MYTHS ART LAB

Idea category: Product / concept

Authors: The authors of this idea are a group of diverse members that took part in the Plastic Twist science café and workshop in Athens. The group is compound of people representing NGOs, the academy and environmental consulting firms.

Description of the idea

A call to creative people to get together to launch an up cycle art lab where the raw material is plastic waste from marine environment and the final product is a range of souvenirs items regards Greek mythology.

The gathered community will collect the plastic from public spaces such us parks and beaches and bring the separated plastic wasted into the art lab, where they will transform it using handcraft tools. The final product is a hand-made souvenir from plastic waste that will be sold to tourist.

the target market or target audience of the idea

Artists and community will be invited to an open call in order to address talented and creative locals. The targeted market is tourists as buyers of the up-cycled souvenir.

The challenges of the target market/target audience does the idea (help) solve

The idea backs the concept of up-cycling, which is still very immature in Greek society.  The idea helps to disseminate awareness about plastic pollution in Greece and to involve all age’s residents in the creation of a more sustainable souvenir.

The uniqueness of the idea and the Unique Selling Points of it

Every year, an amount around of 33 million people visit Greece, generating a big impact on the environment and contributing to the disposal of thousands of tons of waste. The production of plastic is an issue that should be attributed also to the high traffic of tourist in Greece and therefore, measures should be taken in order to make tourist conscious about their role as generators.

In this context, the use of plastic waste that goes through a hand-craft transformation to create products popular sold every year in Greece is aimed to tourist. Tourist will be encouraged to support the initiative by buying souvenirs that acknowledge their contribution to remove plastic from the Greek environment.

The PlasticTwist tools the idea use 

During the promotion and exhibition of artistic works the key Plastic Twist tools to be used are the crowdsourcing and the Market Place. The plastic wallet and plastic tokens to bid will be utilized to promote and sale the plastic art work.

Machinery and tools need to be used to prototype or produce the idea

A well-equipped art lab consisting of processing tools such as plastic cleaners, cutting tools, saw blades, drill bits, bending equipment, adhesives, routers, connectors, buffing and polishing abrasions, paints, brushes, and other hand-crafty items.

Type of (recycled) materials is used

All types of plastic waste found in public spaces.

Business/Scale and Impact

The project will be divided into seven stages.

First stage: Design of the project. 2 months for the development of a business plan.

Second stage: Promotion and communication. Mobilization of the public through an open call

Third stage: Collection of the material and its separation.

Fourth stage: Transferring the raw material to the lab and

Firth stage: Processing in the art lab.

Sixth stage: Promotion and exhibition of the Greek mythology souvenir.

Seventh Stage:  Sale or donation of the project

PET-SOLAR WATER HEATERS

Idea category: A recycled solar heater

Authors

The authors of this idea are a group of diverse members that took part in the Plastic Twist science café and workshop in Athens. The group is compound of people representing NGOs and the academy.

Description of the idea

Greece is known as a country with one of the highest sunlight hours per year. Taking advantage of this unique feature, the infrared light, heat, that comes from the sun will be used to warm up water stored in PET bottles.

Using wasted PET bottles, different designs of a mobile interconnected solar heater will be assembled to be positioned on roof of buildings. The heated water will be used for cleaning purposes in households.

An awareness campaign from NGOs will be developed in order to disseminate the project to all the commercial producers of wasted PETs bottles. A collective of volunteers will be in charge of gathering PET bottles from restaurants, beach bars, pubs, and other commercial establishments.

A competition for industrial designers and engineers will be initiated in order to design a mobile interconnected solar heater. The group of designer will provide an instruction manual for installation that is simple enough to be used by the general public.

The target market or target audience of the idea

The targeted audience is the academy, whit students of engineering or industrial design and a recognized interest on environmentally friendly designs. Commercial venues such as restaurants and shops will be the targeted audience on the awareness campaign, to get these stakeholders involved in the project by supplying the PET bottles, and to making them mindful about the great impact of the bottled water in our society.

The challenges of the target market/target audience does the idea (help) solve

PET bottles are very hard to decompose by natural means what make them one of the worst single use plastics entering our environment. During summer time in Greece, millions of plastic bottles enter the environment, mainly as containers for water sold in every corner. The initiative helps to disseminate awareness about plastic management among plastic waste producers (restaurants, beach clubs, etc) and will lead further campaigns to incentivize tap water consumption.

The uniqueness of the idea and the Unique Selling Points of it

The idea brings this PET single used plastic into commercial value, by introducing an easy-to-make solar heater that will allow common citizens to transform the most common plastic litter into a useful home device.

The PlasticTwist tools the idea use 

The Plastic Twist Market Place will serve as a way to identify users that would like to trade clean wasted PET bottles to support the stage of design.  Further on, single users will be able to collect their PET bottles trough the market place and build their own PET-solar heater.

The public will also have the option to buy already assembled PET-solar heaters from the market place and bid accordingly to their own profile.

The Crowdsourcing will be strategic to disseminate the idea and to receive input from other designers or users to build a user friendly device.

Machinery and tools need to be used to prototype or produce the idea

The machinery will be identify in the competition and may be different for each group participant. Tubes, adhesives, cutting tools, and other materials and tools may be necessary.

Type of (recycled) materials is used

PET bottles

Aluminum sheets

Business/Scale and Impact

The first stage of the project is the kickoff of the dissemination campaign and the open invitation to commercial plastic waste producers. This campaign will run for over 2 months and will gather information about quantity and estate of PET bottles.

The second stage is the one-week competition to build PET-solar heaters with university students and professors. After designs are received, a third stage of testing is carried on with the best three designs.

The third stage will be developed over the next month and focuses on the testing and quality control to solve potential problems of the selected designs.

A fourth stage will begin with the collection of PET bottles from several commercial venues, the transportation of the collected bottles to the center for manufacturing and the construction and installation of 5 exemplars. Universities will provide the lab where engineers and designer will work towards the final designs.

The final stage consists on the creation of the installation instruction manual.  The group of engineers and designers will assemble few mobile PET-solar heaters as prototypes and will donate them to Plastic Twist users. The instruction Manual will be of open distribution on the Crowdsourcing and the Market Place.

THE BLUE BARREL PROJECT

Idea category
Make the old new again through a collection-upcycling-reusing system.
Authors
The authors of this idea are a group of diverse members that took part in the Plastic Twist science café and workshop in Thessaloniki. The group is compound of people from public bodies, engineers and makers
Description of the idea
In the framework of the Blue Barrel project a Social Cooperative Business will be established, in order to tackle with the problem of plastic pollution along the west coast of the Thermaikos Gulf, near Thessaloniki, Greece, largely connected with the activity of mussel cultivation in the area.
The SCB will try to create synergies among the stakeholders, create work and financial benefits for the local community, as well as to accelerate awareness and initiave among the mussel farmers and at schools. It will also try to encourage voluntary actions, by using the Plastic Twist tools and by giving value to the discarded plastic trash.

The target market or target audience of the idea
The local fishermen and barrel manufacturers will be integrated in order to work in synergy in the identification of the circular process from waste collection to barrel production. In this line, it will be crucial to assess whether the mussel farming nets can be used in the recycling or upcycling process and the involvement of the academy for research purposes will be highly important.
In addition, the presence of schools will be paramount to disseminate best practices for sustainable fishing during the collection of the plastic waste during the clean ups.

The challenges of the target market and/or target audience the idea solves
Around 80% of the Greek mussel production takes place along the west coast of the Thermaikos Gulf, thanks to the ecosystemic potential of the Axios Delta protected areas.
Unfortunately, this very important productive activity, involving 147 mussel farmers and an even larger network of people working with them, encompasses a heavy “tax” on environment, as it pollutes the marine environment and the coastline of the Thermaikos Gulf. The problem is due to the infinite number of plastic nets discarded at the sea bottom –many of which are washed up on the beaches and is also due to the typical HDPE blue barrels used for the so-called long-line mussel cultivation.
The lack of awareness and also the lack of disposal solutions as far as the polyethylene nets are concerned, leads mussel farmers and their workers to discard them in the environment or burn them, causing the emission of dangerous dioxines. Still, there is no known method for their recycling.
As for the blue barrels, they get detached from the mussel cultivation lines during storms and bad weather and get dispersed along the beaches, some of them belonging to the Natura 2000 protected areas network. As they are costly, the mussel farmers try to retrieve and reuse the barrels, unless they are to be found on hard to reach, muddy beaches. Many of the barrels are damaged and cannot be used anymore, but they still have value, as they can be recycled.
To make things worse, due to the currents of the gulf, large quantities of plastic trash are being washed up on the west Thermaikos gulf coastline, impacting touristic and non-touristic beaches.
Members of the local communities are protesting for years for the ugly looks of the beaches and the sea bottom, whereas there is also impact on marine life.
The Social Cooperative business will be the “bridge” between stakeholders involved in this highly impacting environmental issue with the aim to clean the beaches, collect plastic trash, research, educate local population and create new recycled plastic barrels.
In a way, today the blue barrels symbolize pollution along the Thermaikos west coast. The Blue Barrel project will try to turn their negative presence into a positive message towards revaluing wasted plastic.

The uniqueness of the idea and the Unique Selling Points of it
The idea aims to reduce plastic pollution along the coastal zone of the Axios – Delta National Park, in the western Thermaikos gulf, where all the involved stakeholders and other members of the local community will work together along with the industry for the same goal of applying sustainable best fishing and cultivating practices, while creating mussel farm barrels from the wasted barrels and other discarded plastic trash.
Additionally, the aim is to incorporate the plastic into a circular economy business model where everyone will contribute in a different way:

• The fishermen will buy and reuse the barrels in lower cost,
• the plastic industry will fulfill the European strategy for plastics by finding new ways to recycle and reconstruct the barrels,
• the locals will get advantage of the different ways of reusing the barrels, since they can be used in other cases too (fire safety, other products etc) and
• they will educate the kids for the cycle of reduce, reuse, reconstruct, upcycle, recycle.
• The mussel farmers will also ameliorate their products reputation locally and nationally through proven social responsibility

The municipalities will have managed to apply a system which empowers the recycling, upcycling, reusing and reconstructing, which will add value to them as pioneering. Finally, the local community will get rid of such a large scale plastic pollution which degrades the environment and creates problems in touristic activities, thus solving the big problem of “what to do with all the plastic”.

The PlasticTwist tools that the idea use
Plastic Heroes: Children will play the game in schools, earn Plastic Tokens and use them to print Plastic useful products for schools such as liter bins, boards, baskets etc., trying to find useful long-term product solutions that will not end un in the ocean.
Plastic Wallet: Different events like “Trashion Shows” (trash meets fashion) will be organized, where all volunteers will be reward with Plastic Tokens.
Marketplace: Using tokens earned through the participation in clean ups, children and volunteers will earns 3Dprinted toys and available items from the Marketplace. Also the volunteers who collect the barrels and other plastic fishing gear can use the marketplace to exchange the materials for tokens and then buy different products from the marketplace. The makers can use the platform for demonstrating and selling their new products made out of plastic marine litter.
Crowdsourcing: Through the crowdsourcing the Trashion Shows can become famous. The aim of the Trashion shows is to demonstrate the plastic marine litters as clothes and giving an extraordinary approach on the plastic marine pollution emphasizing and spreading the meaning and the importance of clean ups, collection, reusing, recycling, upcycling and reconstructing activities.

What machinery and tools need to be used to prototype or produce the idea/ concept?
One transport vehicle will be used to bring the collected material to the premises of the Cooperative where it will be separated and cleaned. There will be an investment on medium scale machinery for recycling the plastic material, as well solar power generating equipment.
Social networking and equipment such as DIY 3D printers, hardware and Open source programs will be highly utilized.

Type of (recycled) materials is used
Mostly HDPE plastic barrels, pieces of plastic rope (LDPE, PA), and typical beach plastic trash.

Business/Scale and Impact
The job of the Social Cooperative will be to:

• Create synergies with the musselfarmers, in order to involve them in the process of keeping the marine environment clean. The farmers will be asked to collect and give to the SC the damaged barrels. In return they will receive tokens in the PT system, and they will be able to buy new barrels made by recycled plastic.
• Research on the possibilities to recycle the polyethylene nets used for the mussel cultivations, which are now being thrown away or burned, in cooperation with the academic community or pioneering private companies. The mussel farmers will be happy to have a solution on how they can dispose of these nets.
• Collect waste from the beach with the help of volunteers, schools, locals and SC members, while educating them on the problem.
• Clean and recycle the recovered plastic materials in its premises, based in a village centrally located along the Thermaikos Gulf coast (Kitros Pierias). The recycled plastic will be sold to companies producing plastic items and barrels among them, whereas part of it will be directed to dissemination activities or cooperation with artists.
• Realize educational programs at schools through P-Twist. Among other activities, the pupils will be asked to bring used plastic packages and will see them upcycled to toys with the help of a 3D printer and patterns downloaded from the Plastic Twist platform. Children will also gather Plastic Tokens by taking part in clean ups.
• Cooperate with artists to produce art items and fashion items by plastic trash. Throw a yearly “trashion” show, a catwalk with costumes made by plastic trash.
• Create, in the future, national guidance and methodology for potentially similar SCBs, in accordance with yet to be formed laws on waste management.

ΓΟ-PING FOR HOPING

Idea category
Adding value to our beaches
Authors
The authors of this idea are a group of diverse members that took part in the Plastic Twist science café and workshop in Thessaloniki. The group is compound of people representing NGO’s and local communities.
Description of the idea
Every year 19billion cigarrete butts end up on the coasts of Greece.
One cigarette filter can pollute up to 1000litres of water and if it ends up on the landfill it need 12 years to finally get decomposed. Also due to the plastic it includes it adds more on the problem of the microplastics.
In many cases people don’t realize the problem due to the unawareness of the issue.

Greece hosts some of the most beautiful coastal environments in the world and every year 25 million tourists visit the country.
Chalkidiki is also one of the magor touristic places in Greece. Every year thousands of tourists visit the beaches and enjoy the natural beauty of the place.

The main scope of this idea is to realize and understand the importance of ciggarretes as marine and coastal polluters and how all the stakholders of the project to manage with the problem
The case study will be planed for Chalkidikis beaches with the aim to organize beach clean ups, collect and the ciggarrete butts found on the coasts and report the problem, asking/suggesting for sollutions. The final result will be not only to keep the beaches clean from plastic wastes and especially cigarette butts but also to improve the quality of the natural environment, keep Chalkidiki one of the greatest touristic destinations with clean coasts so that to keep the local businesses alive.

All P-Twist tools will be used for this idea focusing in understanding the major pollution problem and the sollutions of it. Children can also play P-Twist games to get informed about the problem. Raising awareness, informing the public, put pressure to the tobacco and plastic industries and publishing the idea would be done through P-Twist tools.

The target market or target audience of the idea
The community, local businesses and tourism will get a benefit by this idea .The final result is to manage a cigarrete butt and plastic free coastal zone on the touristic area of Chalkidiki which will protect and preserve the natural areas of Chalkidiki, will prevent the aesthetical degradation of the coasts, will minimize the marine pollution and finally will add a special value to the touristic businesses and locals.
In addition to the above the educational value of that project will be for the children to learn about the issue of the cigarretes and generally the marine and coastal pollution with the aim to grow an environmental and social responsible behavior.
Finally the tobacco industry and plastic industry are some of the most important players on that since they are the ones who will find a way to replace the plastic parts of a ciggarrete with a biodegradable material as well as they are the ones who can give an answer to the manage and treatment of the cigarettes as a waste.

The challenges of the target market and/or target audience the idea solves
Greece is a top touristic holiday destination. By preserving the natural resources and areas of the country we upgrade them, add a value and make it even more approachable and attractive to tourists. The great importance on that is that in many cases, mostly in villages, islands and small cities the touristic businesses keep the local economy of the places in high levels, many family businesses keep working and the locals don’t need to move in big cities. The tourism on these places is critical for keeping the levels of the economy high and creating a high quality of life to everybody who lives there. So the problems that the project highlight are:
Keep and preserve the natural environment clean and in high quality which will keep the destination attractive to tourists, will support the touristic businesses and local family businesses to survive and keep working, will preserve the economy of the place, the locals wont choose to move and finally will emphasize to the great problem of the cigarette butts as an enormous polluter for the marine and coastal environment.

The uniqueness of the idea and the Unique Selling Points of it
The cigarette butts are not only everywhere, but also how they are thrown away is outside a specific legislative framework, which means that almost an unlimited number of them end up in the seas. Very few people are aware of the great issue of the cigarrete butts on the marine and coastal environment. But there are actually many initiatives and organizations that are fighting to change it. What we want to highlight through the project is to raise awareness by using the Plastic Twist tools.
The top things we want to highlight are: for tobacco industries to replace the plastic part of the ciggarretes with a biodegradable material and ask the plastic industry to design and create that product, the plastic industries also to create a special made, transferable astrays using plastic marine waste and educate and encourage the smokers to use it everywhere, as well as to create special bins only for the cigarettes again out of recycled plastic and press the touristic businesses to use them and finally educate the public about how we can treat the cigarrete butts and how we can manage the wastes.

The PlasticTwist tools that the idea use
Plastic heroes: Children can play the game where they can collect cigarrete butts, they will find that the most common waste that they find on the beaches are those little monsters, they will learn that a part of the cigarette butts is plastic and it’s a waste that cannot get recycled, upcycled or reuse and generally it’s a product that cannot be a part of the circular economy. Also they will learn about the bad habbit of smoking regarding the health
P Wallet::The wallet is to be used from the makers and the plastic industry who produce and sell the recycled astrays and bins.
Marketplace: Here is the place where someone can upload products referring to smokings, such as astrays from alternative material instead of plastic
Crowdsourcing: This platform will be the most usefull one for raising awareness for all the whole project, search for alternative ideas of how to manage and treat the ciggarrete butts, learn about the major problem worldwide and get inspired of other ideas regarding the issue.
What machinery and tools need to be used to prototype or produce the idea/ concept?
Machines that collect the cigarrete butts instead of collecting them by hands
3D printing machines for the construction of the astrays and the cigarette bins out of the marine plastic waste
Type of (recycled) materials is used
Plastic waste (marine or general) to construct astrays and bins
Biodegradable materials to replace the plastic parts of the ciggarretes
Business/Scale and Impact
The project might take 2 years starting first from locate and report the problem and ending up answering to the problem with realistic solutions focusing on the reduce, upcycle, reuse recycle model.

The steps are the following ones:
1. Chalkidiki will be the case study area
2. Create an awareness campaign locally and nationally
3. Activate the locals (schools, municipalities, local businesses etc) to organize beach clean ups with the aim to collect the a) the cigarrete butss and b) the general plastic marine waste
4. Report and communicate the results of the cleanups
5. Create a stakeholder map with the tobacco industry, plastic industry, makers and local authorities as the main players
6. Ask from them to make suggestions and a plan of how they can replace the plastic parts on the ciggarretes and to plan a business model for constructing recycled bins and astrays using plastic waste and 3D-printers
7. Build collaborations between the producers and the businesses promoting the products and asking them to buy and use them
8. Use the marketplace for promoting the products so everyone can have access on that, use the crowdsourcing platform to raise awareness and inform about the whole project and model.

THE PLASTIC ARTWORK

Idea category
Educational art- A call to action project
Authors
The authors of this idea are a group of diverse members that took part in the Plastic Twist science café and workshop in Thessaloniki. The group is compound of people representing NGO’s and civilians.
Description of the idea
Facing enormous lack of knowledge on recycling issues in Greece, the aim of this idea is the creation of artistic shaped bins to be placed in public areas where people can dispose their respective waste according to the shape of the bin. The artistic plastic bins will have the shape of the most common single use plastic waste encountered in our environment such as plastic bags, cups, lids and bottles so that people can actually use them every day and then realize what is their plastic footprint day by day.

Everyone will be invited to urban clean-ups organized from different sources such as NGO’s, municipalities, schools, individual synergies etc, with the aim to influence the citizens and students to take part on the clean ups and collect plastic litter from marine and inland sources.
Through the collaboration with the existents Fab Labs the production of the bins will be coordinated from the participants and the makers. Additionally the municipalities should agree on running a campaign of these bins to be placed in different public places where people can use every day like schools, public buildings, public areas like playgrounds etc.

A schools program will be also launched in several educational institutions where a competition of the best artistic design for bins will be carried on. The best bin designs will be available to Fab Labs. The idea encourages community of all ages and any educational background to learn about categorizing the 10 most common Single Use Plastic items, as well as it acknowledges the community’s contribution in the reinsertion of these harmful plastics into the plastic lifecycle chain

The target market or target audience of the idea
The idea targets students from formal and non-formal education of all ages as main audience for environmental awareness in relation to Single Use Plastic. In addition, general public and volunteers are involved in the creation of an engineering design using innovative tools such as 3D printers, which makes the idea more attractive to common residents. The local councils will play a role as promoters and sponsors to the Fab Labs.

The challenges of the target market and/or target audience the idea solves
Grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, cigarette butts, straws, containers, cups, cutlery, cotton bud sticks are among the most harmful to the marine environment items found in beach clean ups in Greece. The common reasons for the presence of these items in our environment is the illiteracy of people in the topic of plastic pollution, and the lack of incentive measures and restrictions in Greece to make the community aware about their importance to tackle this critical issue with only a behavioral change.
Furthermore, this idea is fundamental in supporting the current European restriction measures to single use plastic which has just been adopted, and which requires a well-structured transition before in could be implemented before 2021 in Greece.

The uniqueness of the idea and the Unique Selling Points of it
The idea aims to communicate residents of all backgrounds their importance as contributors to prevent the leaking of single use plastic into the environment as well as to enforce the public bodies to take actions regarding the recycling system. To do so, a school’s program, several clean up events and Fab Labs workshops will be held in order to remove plastic litter and build usable artistic bins that will promote a proper separation in the source of these single use plastic items. Finally, the civilians will ask from the municipalities to launch the bins in several public areas.

The PlasticTwist tools that the idea use
During the promotion of the project, the crowdsourcing will be the main source of information. The Market Place will be the only platform where the artistic bins will be advertised in order to find external buyers different from the local councils.
In addition, through the participations to the events, local community and students will be awarded with Plastic Tokens, which will be available for their own use in the platform.

What machinery and tools need to be used to prototype or produce the idea/ concept?
Machinery to turn plastic waste into filament that could be used to feed a 3D printer. Additional equipment such as shredder machine, melting ovens, and other processing tools such as plastic cleaners, cutting tools, saw blades, drill bits, bending equipment among others.

Type of (recycled) materials is used
All types of plastic waste found in public spaces and Greek beaches, with main focus on the collection and processing of single use plastic litter.

Business/Scale and Impact
The project will be developed in one year from winter to autumn.

The initial trimester during winter time: Design of the schools program and the dissemination of the project by calling local community to participate.

The second trimester during spring time: Collection of the plastic litter trough urban-beach clean ups and its separation in the Fab Labs and designs competition in schools.

The third semester during summer timer: Research and processing of the raw material in the Fab Labs and final products.

The fourth trimester during autumn time: Installation of the artistic bins, promotion and exhibition, sales or donations.

FOLLOWING A PLASTIC PATH

Idea category
Disabled Tourism: Accessibility is everyone's right.
Authors
The authors of this idea are a group of diverse members that took part in the Plastic Twist science café and workshop in Thessaloniki. The group is compound of artists, professor, NGO’s and individual citizens.
Description of the idea
The project concerns the supply and installation of non-permanent auxiliary recycled facilities such as corridors and ramps alongside the beaches, for the impeded persons, the elderly, pregnant women and injured persons. In addition to that other infrastructures such as shading and protection areas can be produced from recycled material. The objectives of the program are to guarantee the rights of disabled people to have indepentent, safe and decent access to the beaches and enjoy the sea and their holidays, as well as to transform Greece into a world-wide tourist attraction for people with disabilities and other.

The target market or target audience of the idea
In regards of the producing the facilities the target audience is the plastic industry and the makers in collaboration with researchers, architects and engineers. The touristic industry also needs to take part in that since they are going to use the pathways in front of the beaches they manage.
On the top of those the most important people that the idea is valuable to, are the most vulnerable people such as handicapped people, elderly and pregnant women or women with babies on the strollers.

The challenges of the target market and/or target audience the idea solves
Greece has many hidden beauties and treasures that, if anyone finds them, it will rank it in one of the most enchanting countries in the world. But what does the Disabled Infrastructure have? The wheelchair users in Greece are estimated at 130 thousand and the country is not a fully accessible with adequate infrastructure. The issue with Greece is that there are (albeit a few) infrastructures and organized cities, beaches, activities and businesses for people with disabilities, but they are not known to the target audience. The challenge of that project is to make it feasible for this group of people to enjoy their summer vacation and can easily organize their journey like anyone else. The challenge for the businesses is to start planning the business plan taking into fully account all the group of people and different kind of tourists which big and highly important part of those are the people with sight, hearing, speech and physical disabilities.

The uniqueness of the idea and the Unique Selling Points of it
The uniqueness of this idea is to launch a national campaign where everyone can collect plastic litter from everywhere but mostly from organized clean ups and provide all the material to the makers to build special recycled pathways for the seaside.
The makers or the plastic industry should collaborate with the civilians and the businesses. The businesses then are obliged to use the pathways in order to fulfill the requirements for the eco and social awards like green key and blue flags and in order to increase the quality of these special touristic facilities and attract more tourists of these groups. Additionally, many national and local NGO’s and Social entrepreneurships are working on similar projects so the above stakeholders can easily collaborate with them and receive the knowledge they need in order to apply a specific methodology.
In conclusion:
 It combines collection of wastes for social benefit
 Touristic upgrade of the coasts
 Profit to the local community / city council
 Social benefit for vulnerable groups of people
 Benefit for the NGO’s and Social entrepreneurships

The PlasticTwist tools that the idea use
Wallet: The wallet is to be used from the makers and the plastic industry who produce and sell the recycled platforms.
Marketplace: Here is the place where someone can upload the plastic platforms referring to businesses and local public authorities
Crowdsourcing: This platform will be the most useful one for raising awareness for the whole project, to put pressure to the authorities to apply initiatives like these, to enforce the businesses to improve their facilities for people with kinetic disabilities and increase the quality of their touristic infrastructure with respect to their visitors. Also for the makers and the industry to receive knowledge, adopt ideas and apply methods from worldwide examples.

What machinery and tools need to be used to prototype or produce the idea/ concept?
Machinery for the production of the plastic pathways mostly

Type of (recycled) materials is used
All types of plastic waste, aluminum and non-slippery materials

Business/Scale and Impact
The project will be developed and applied as a piloting project in 1 year

 September – February → launching the campaign for the public to organize massive clean ups and collection of the proper material for the construction of the pathways. Also it will work as a mobilization and sensitization campaign in collaboration with NGO’s and social entrepreneurships
 September – February → stakeholder mapping (makers, plastic or even pharmaceutical industry, architects and engineers, touristic businesses, public authorities and municipalities, Environmental and Social award Organizations)
 February – April → construct the pathways, communicate it through Social Media, email / phone, crowdsourcing platform and upload the products on the marketplace
 April – May →sell and place the pathways to the collaborative industries
 June – September → report the progress and the results of the project