#GlassRepurpose Competition

Glass with a new image and use

In September, in the context of the BIO 26 and in cooperation with the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), Steklarna Hrastnik organised the #GlassRepurpose competition on the social networks. The competition aimed to awaken ideas on how to reuse glass products. We received more than 70 submissions. The members of the expert committee, Matevž Čelik Vidmar – MAO, Erika Oblak – Ecologists without Borders, and Mateja Š. Dimic – Steklarna Hrastnik, chose the three best proposals.

The competition aimed to point out and raise awareness about greater environmental protection and sustainable actions. We searched for original and exceptional ideas with a market potential – especially ideas that include the use of greater quantities of used glass. Steklarna Hrastnik would like its products to be more than just shards that are remelted into new bottles once their original use comes to an end. We wished to emphasise that used products can get a completely new applicable value. An important aspect of the received ideas was the fact that their realisation would not require additional strains on the environment or additional energy consumption.

The committee chose the three best ideas as follows:

FIRST PLACE: Katja Keseric Markovič for her proposal Setting up a platform for waste trading, which represents a step towards a circular economy. My waste is someone else’s raw material. Reasoning: The idea of setting up a platform for the trading and sorting of waste/used glass is original and unusual. It goes beyond conventional thought and the search for solutions. The platform ensures that waste glass does not become waste but someone else’s raw material. The committee finds that in order for any of the received ideas to be realised, waste glass products would have to be sorted, which would require a system and this platform represents the answer to that question. As the idea for the solution represents both a tool for and a solution to the set challenge and is a prerequisite condition for the reuse of larger quantities of discarded glass, the expert committee unanimously chose it as the winner.

SECOND PLACE: Nejc Juritsch for his proposal Pieces of glass + concrete = transparent wall. Reasoning: The idea of using waste glass in building/concrete constructions enables various effects (the transparency of walls) or its use as a construction material instead of sand. This is a field where larger quantities of waste materials could be used without additional energy consumption or pollution.

THIRD PLACE: Špela Muhič for her proposal Fragments of larger quantities of glass filling the space between large glass surfaces. Reasoning: The use of fragmented waste glass (shards) as filling material for various furniture items and partition walls enables the use of larger quantities of waste materials. The implementation does not put additional strain on the environment and does not require additional energy for processing.

The author of the best idea as chosen by the committee will receive a financial prize of EUR 1,000 and all three authors are invited to visit Steklarna Hrastnik for a tour of the company and production facilities. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all participants. We are pleased with the high number of received ideas, which shows that care for the environment is an important topic and glass a very welcome material for creativity – either new or used, it has countless possibilities for recycling. As such, it meets the highest standards of ecological materials.

 

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