CREATable RESOURCES CONTEST : Mattiussi Ecologia: ecodesign for the future of presorting household waste

Mattiussi Ecologia is a leader in the design and manufacture of innovative solutions for people and the environment. A pioneer in the design logic of pre-sorting bins and sorted waste collection systems, the company has always been known for launching innovative products that turn waste into a new resource.

Mattiussi Ecologia is convinced of the importance of design as a tool for raising individual and community awareness of respect for nature, and offers tools that combine functionality and aesthetics, giving everyone the opportunity to make a tangible contribution to the circular economy model.

On the occasion of its 40th anniversary, last year, the company presented the second edition of the international CREATable RESOURCES CONTEST - NEXT40 edition, a challenge to young eco-designers with a strong interest in sustainability and the circular economy to imagine the next 40 years.

CREATable RESOURCES - NEXT40 edition is a challenge to consider the next 40 years of pre-sorted waste collection within the broader concept of a circular economy. With global objectives to mitigate climate change and protect the environment, increasing the quantity and quality of materials for recycling is a challenge that no one can shy away from. The latest statistics show that zero waste targets are still far from being achieved: in Europe, only 50% of municipal waste is recycled (source: 2021, Eurostat) and globally, no country exceeds 67% of material recycled annually (source: EPI Recycling Index 2022, Yale - Environmental Performance Index). Every action we take on a daily basis contributes to achieving the goal of circularity, where pre-sorted waste collection is seen as a noble act that creates new resources.

In this context, Mattiussi Ecologia is asking young eco-designers to imagine the future of pre-sorting household waste in the home, in order to improve the perception and willingness of residents to do so, as well as to support its effectiveness. Imagining the home of the future, with sustainability and technology in an environment where space is increasingly limited, the aim is to create a new product for the home that is able to combine design, functionality, sustainability and digital technology.

The project developed will be aesthetically pleasing so that it can be placed in any home environment, overcoming the need to hide it from view; it will be intelligently designed to solve the problems of occupying and managing space and controlling odours; lastly, it will be sustainable, both in terms of its construction and in terms of incentivising the ultimate goal of pre-sorted waste collection, in whatever form the local authority chooses (kerbside collection, take-home system).

The competition is open to young designers (under 35 years of age) and there are no restrictions. Participation can be on an individual basis or in groups. In the latter case, although authorship of the project belongs equally to all members of the group, the group must appoint a group leader who will be the contact person for the company. Participation as an individual excludes participation as a group and vice versa. Employees of Mattiussi Ecologia, members of the jury and their families are not allowed to participate. Projects must be unpublished, original and developed specifically for the competition. Each entrant (or group) may submit a maximum of two projects.

Entry to the competition is free. Participants are required to complete their entry with contextual submission of their materials within the deadlines indicated in this document. By submitting, participants accept all the provisions of these regulations. Should a participant not comply with the regulations, in their entirety or in part, the respective project may be disqualified.
Participation takes place by submitting a registration form as well as the entries through the website.

The entries to be submitted will be in digital format and must be send to the mentioned link following the indicated procedure.
Participants are required to send:

• a brief description of the project not exceeding 3000 characters on a vertical A4 size sheet in .pdf format that describes, without images, the concept, the features of the product and the materials envisaged;

• a horizontal ISO-A3 table in .pdf format containing at least mock-ups of the product, construction, materials and renderings as well as the personal code (see details below) in the top right-hand corner of the table.

In order to guarantee anonymity of the materials under evaluation, participants are requested to create a personal code with which to save the files consisting of the following:
PERSONAL CODE:
[initial of first name][initial of surname][date of birth as number][month of birth as number]

The personal code excludes second names and year of birth; single-digit numbers must be preceded by “0”. Example: the participant John David Smith, born on 01 12 1900 will have as personal code: JS0112.
Participants will name the files as follows:

• Project description: 01_personal code.PDF
• Table: 02_ personal code.PDF Files must not exceed 5Mb.

The languages accepted for the competition documents are Italian and English.
Files must be uploaded exclusively using the methods provided for by the telematics procedure (links to servers from which files are to be downloaded or sending by ordinary or certified e-mail will not be accepted). Once the entry has been sent, no change can be made to the data and materials submitted.

Projects will be assessed by the judging panel based on the following criteria:

• Originality and degree of innovation
• Industrial feasibility
• Sustainability of manufacturing and materials used for the implementation of the project
• Ease and efficiency of use, according to the objectives established by the competition
• Adaptation to domestic spaces

• Deadline for the projects submission: 31 May 2024
• Publication of results: 31 August 2024

The panel will award the following prizes:

• First classified: EUR 2,500
• Second classified: EUR 1,500
• Third classified: EUR 1,000

The jury reserves the right to award special mentions to projects that stand out for certain aspects of their design, including but not limited to the most visionary project and the one that best integrates technology.

The company will also consider the possibility of industrialising the winning projects and incorporating them into the Mattiussi Ecologia indoor line.

The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony to be held at a date and place to be announced.

The winning projects will be exhibited at forthcoming Italian and international trade fairs in which the company participates.

All the projects will be displayed in the conference room at Mattiussi Ecologia's headquarters.

The panel will consist of the following voting members:

Three internal Mattiussi Ecologia members

• Valter Mattiussi – CEO
• Engineer Massimo Miotti – Product Development Manager
• Francesca Mattiussi – Marketing

Two members from outside the Company, professionals in the field of industrial design

• Cristian Durofil – Product Designer and Member of the Board of Directors of ADI FVG
• Alberto Ghirardello – Product Designer and Lecturer at the Istituto Marangoni Milano

The work of the panel will be confidential and the results final. The panel reserves the right to decide on the division of prizes in the event of a tie. The panel shall decide by majority vote, the results will be made public on the www.mattiussiecologia.com website and the winners will be contacted directly.

Participants retain ownership and the right to exploit their works. Mattiussi Ecologia reserves the right to enter into a contract with the winning authors for the exploitation of the projects for manufacturing purposes and/or to modify their content for economic or industrial reasons, taking care to draw up an economic agreement with the designers concerned in accordance with the professional rules in force. Mattiussi Ecologia will be granted a one-year option to decide on the use of the winning projects, and this option will be covered by the prizes awarded to the winners, as indicated in these rules; therefore, the participants undertake not to extend the right of exploitation of the winning projects to third parties without prior agreement with Mattiussi Ecologia. Mattiussi Ecologia also has the right to request the option to use the non-winning projects within one year from the date of the minutes of the jury meeting, with a financial agreement to be drawn up between the parties.

If you have any enquiries or explanatory questions before the deadline, please send an e-mail to: mktg@mattiussi.co.uk