Imagine a floating factory that sails to islands during the busy summer season to pick up trash. Instead of shipping waste back to the mainland, this boat sorts and recycles plastics and fabrics right on the water. It turns old waste into new products and souvenirs on the spot, helping islands stay clean without needing permanent, expensive landfills.
Islands face massive waste spikes during tourist seasons that overwhelm local infrastructure. Shipping this waste to the mainland is expensive and environmentally damaging.
A mobile, modular recycling plant on a boat equipped with sorting and reprocessing machinery for plastics and textiles.
If you are a waste management company dealing with seasonal waste spikes on islands — this project developed a modular sorting and reprocessing plant on a boat that transforms local waste into new products.
If you are a travel agency dealing with the environmental impact of mass tourism — this project developed new tourism packages that engage visitors in circular economy activities and sustainable holidays.
If you are a designer dealing with high material costs and waste — this project developed a system to generate new circular products from recycled island plastics and textiles to be sold locally.
Based on available project data, the specific unit price is not listed, but the EU is contributing EUR 4,998,325 to develop the solution.
The project tests replicability through three complementary pilots in the Eolian, Ioninan, and Azores islands to define a final business model for wider use.
Based on available project data, the project focuses on providing open access data and training materials, though a final business model for exploitation will be defined.
The project runs from 2025-01-01 to 2028-06-30.
It uses a decentralized approach with a mobile boat that avoids the need for permanent land-based plants, integrating via digital tools for scheduling and co-creation.
The consortium is heavily geared toward commercial application, with 6 industry partners and 6 SMEs, resulting in a 43% industry ratio. This balance of 14 partners across 5 countries suggests a strong focus on market viability and practical deployment rather than pure academic research.
Contact Politecnico di Milano regarding the mobile recycling plant specifications.
Contact us to find partners for the upcoming island pilot phases.
