Corepla â the Italian non-profit-making consortium for the collection, recycling and recovery of the waste from plastic packaging materials â partnered with the Waste Free Oceans foundation (WFO) and collaborated on this project in Italy by providing the material which was used for the first shelter.
According to WFO the plastic waste collected with experimental polyethylene barriers in the river Po, after being recycled by Corepla, was sent to the Storm Board plant of the English group Protomax Plastics, a company specialising in the production of recycled plastic panels that are mainly used in the constructions sector, in order to produce the boards which served for building the shelter.
The organisations cooperate in finding a practical answer to the issue of marine litter and in helping educate society on the recycling solutions available, therefore helping some regions in the world with the humanitarian shelter project.
At the end of the Ecomondo fair, the panels, which are quickly assembled and disassembled, have been sent to Athens, Greece, with the aim of serving as a demo project helping the refugees in the area. The original concept is to manage part of the refugee’s plastic waste in order to produce recycled panels which can be used to build emergency shelters or any other useful structures suitable to their needs.