Re-fè
Useful information
- Team members
- Federico Girotto Riccardo Sponchiado Valentina Lovat Lorenzo Donadel Marco Santomauro
- Country
- Italy
- Keywords
- coffee grounds coffee recycling upcycling circular economy circularity capsules reuse 3D printed local production bioplastic local
Short Description
A circular and modular tool for recycling coffee capsules and reuse coffee grounds.
Detailed Description
The coffee capsule market is constantly growing. Coffee capsules are not recyclable unless they are disposed of correctly, by separating the individual components.
Re-fè is an easy-to-use tool that helps users to separate the coffee grounds from the used coffee capsules with the aim of promoting the circularity of both elements through the tool itself.
The tool is in line with the users' necessity and the market trends: people are looking for faster ways to drink coffee, and we are also giving them fast ways to recycle it.
Re-fè is a modular and circular tool: local materials, 3D printed, made from recycled bioplastic, produced by local makers, reusable and repairable by replacing single components.
The project was born out of the homely necessity of recycling used coffee capsules. We designed it by thinking about a reproducible, accessible, and easily distributable tool, shortening the distances between the manufacturer and final users and reducing the environmental impact.
Project Details
- Does your design take social and cultural challenges and human wellbeing into consideration?
We take care to communicate and provide suggestions on the benefit of reusing the waste produced by them, so that they can benefit from it as a resource in a perspective of circularity and reuse. The reuse of coffee grounds and capsule waste used in a creative and useful way, brings benefit in their daily activities and consequently in their mind.
- Does your design support sustainable production, embodying circular or regenerative design practices?
The tool aims to lower the impact of waste on the environment, transforming it into a new resource. For example, coffee grounds can be used as compost for plants or the vegetable garden, for face masks, to treat hair. Moreover, the tool is circular: 3D printed using recycled bioplastic material and a glass jar. Every single component can be replaced or reused.
- Does your design use principles of distribution and open source?
We have designed Re-fè to make it accessible to everyone, by applying the principles of replicability, simplicity, and local production. Our goal is to distribute the tool as much as possible to lower the environmental impact of coffee waste.
- Does your design promote awareness of responsible design and consumption?
The aim of the project is to make people responsible for the tool, leveraging the communication of the product production process, the materials used and the distribution of it. We also inform and sensitize people on the conscious use and consumption of resources by teaching them how to make their waste a resource for other activities that they can benefit.
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