Ecodesign the future
Packaging edition
From October 2021 to January 2022, the course engaged 30 male and female university students in a 50-hour program divided between lectures and a design workshop.
The main objective of the course, sponsored by ISIA Roma Design and POLIARTE-Academy of Fine Arts and Design, was to foster contact between institutions, companies, designers and students through the creation of projects and prototypes related to packaging from a circular economy perspective, with a particular focus on Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE).
Coltipack, Ex Box and Expo-Pallet are the three winning projects of “Ecodesign the Future: Packaging edition”.
Developed by the group composed by Annachiara De Marco, Sara Gransinigh and Fabrizio Virga, Coltipack is a primary packaging made of glue-free FSC cardboard with an internal biodegradable filler (a peat mat) in which to plant microgreens seeds, i.e. indoor seedlings with interesting nutritional properties. A 100 percent green product perfect for growing.
The concept of EX-Box, developed by Eros Biasotto, Renata Marano and Linda Volta, is a secondary packaging consisting of an FSC corrugated cardboard box that, when opened, becomes a countertop display. A circular solution for the primary packaging of USB cables is integrated inside the EX-Box: a cube made of recycled plastic designed to rewind, protect and store the cable.
Expo-pallet, designed by Riccardo Botta, Angela Maria Miceli and Davide Monaco, is a tertiary packaging which, after its main use (transporting products from factories to stores), transforms into a display stand for household appliances. Designed to comply with all circular economy criteria, Expo-pallet has the distinction of being a packaging that can be folded and reused several times.
“We are proud of the projects carried out as part of the ‘Ecodesign the Future: Packaging edition’ workshop. This is a testimony that sustainable change is possible if we give the new generations the proper knowledge and tools to deal with change. This course showed us that rethinking packaging for a truly circular future is really possible. I’m happy that Erion Packaging has been able to provide its experience and know-how so that students could discover a different way of doing business in which the well-being of the Planet comes first and product and Packaging design plays a leading role in the ongoing ecological transition.”
Maurizio Bernardi
President of Erion Packaging, CEO and CFO of BSH Italy and Member of the Workshop Promoters Committee
“A cultural change on the training and innovation front are, for EconomiaCircolare.com, the tools for reframing the logic through which we design and produce, especially in a sector with high waste production such as packaging. The purpose of Ecodesign the Future is exactly that: to train and engage ideas and skills, exploring new frontiers of design for waste reduction, applied in this case to the EEE chain. Thanks to this path we have intercepted young people who have taken up the challenge by elaborating concepts of great impact, result of the perfect union between cross-functional skills and a holistic and circular vision of design.”
Marica Di Pierri
Editor-in-chief of EconomiaCircolare.com and Member of the Workshop Promoters Committee
See the pictures of the protagonists of “Ecodesign the Future – Packaging edition” taken on 26 March 2022 at the ADI Design Museum in Milan during the course’s award ceremony.
Erion Packaging – Non-profit Producer Responsibility Organisation for the management of Packaging Waste – Via A. Scarsellini, 14 – 20161 Milan
VAT/Tax Code/ Milan Registry of Businesses 11335530967