May 2022 Reuse, Recycle, Recovery, R….
We often talk about 3R, Reuse, Recycle and Recovery. Someone also speaks of a 4th R, the one that stands for Reduction. In a few words, we must think about it and understand what to do to limit our impact, our «footprint». Well, with these thoughts in mind and without the presumption of being a model, I met Debora Basei. It took a few, very few minutes to get in tune and understand that something good could be done, in the spirit of at least one of the “R”s seen above.
We are a company that has always worked sheet metal, a company that cuts, bends, drills and welds metal. We do it in an industrial key, because we build agricultural machinery with sheet metal, but doing it with our hands, being capable of doing it even as a craftsman, must remain in our DNA. We cannot lose it. And these were the first thoughts with Debora.
We try not to waste but in every process there are always scraps, in our field they are called “sfridi”, pieces of sheet metal that remain after the cutting of shapes, pieces that often end up in the bin, therefore destined for Recycling. In rare cases they can be taken for small jobs, and therefore destined for Recovery. So the matter is there. Debora tells me about truck tires, which, once worn, are put into a machine that literally makes them into strips, as if they were noodles. And they’re made of good, durable plastic.
Here is the idea, born from the creative vivacity of Debora: an outdoor armchair, an iron structure with the seat made of tires, ops, threads of tires, intertwined, like in old straw chairs, here as well a certain artisan know-how. We start with sketches, but a few words are enough and everything ends up in the hands of Alessandro, skilled worker, expert, acute and capable of finding solutions. Alessandro is also the production manager, so he works on this project, builds this incredible armchair with his own hands, and then weaves the intertwining of tires into threads for the seat. He finds a way to fix the plastic to the iron, and voilà, the product is finished.
But what is it? Some dare to ask, could this have a market? And how much would it cost? We are out of the way, an object made of scraps, recovered from a bin to be recycled, put together with craftsmanship, to be reused, in another form and with another function. How much value do we give to this operation? Today, as an exercise, almost a game, but tomorrow, perhaps as a modus operandi? There is no answer, or maybe we have many and can play with them in order to improve ourselves?
Iacopo Meghini
CEO Metalmont