CREATable RESOURCES CONTEST – NEXT40 Edition

Deadline Date: May 31, 2024

Donor Name: Mattiussi Ecologia

Grant Size: $1000 to $10,000

For its 40th anniversary, the Company has the pleasure of presenting the second edition of the international CREATable RESOURCES CONTEST – NEXT40 edition, a challenge launched for young eco-friendly designers with a keen interest in sustainability and the circular economy to envisage the next 40 years.

CREATable RESOURCES – NEXT40 edition is a challenge to envisage the next 40 years of presorted waste collection within the broader concept of a circular economy. With the global objectives of mitigating climate change and protecting the environment, increasing the quantity and quality of materials dedicated for recycling is a challenge that no one can shy away from. The latest statistics indicate that “zero-waste” targets are still far from being met: in Europe, only 50% of urban waste is recycled (source: 2021, Eurostat) and globally, no country exceeds 67% of material being recycled annually (source: EPI-Recycling index 2022, Yale – Environmental Performance Index). Every action they take on a daily basis contributes to achieving the goal of circularity in which presorted waste collection is seen as a noble act of creating new resources.

Within this context, Mattiussi Ecologia is asking young eco-friendly designers to envisage the future of presorting household waste in the home, in order to improve its perception among residents and their propensity to do it, as well as support its effectiveness. Imagining the home of the future, with sustainability and technology in settings where space is increasingly limited, the aim is to design a new product for home living able to combine design, functionality and sustainability as well as digital technology.

The project developed, in fact, will be aesthetically attractive, enabling it to be placed in any home environment, overcoming the need for it to be hidden from sight; it will be intelligently designed to solve the issues of occupying and managing space and controlling odour; lastly it will be sustainable both in terms of its construction and incentivizing the ultimate goal of presorted waste collection, in whatever form chosen by the relevant municipality (kerbside collection, bring system).

Objective

• The objective is to design a new product for home living able to combine design, functionality and sustainability as well as digital technology.

Prizes 

• The panel will award the following prizes: 
  • First classified: EUR 2,500 
  • Second classified: EUR 1,500 
  • Third classified: EUR 1,000
• The panel has the right to award Special Mentions to projects that stand out particularly due to 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 industrializing the winning projects and the subsequent inclusion of the projects in the Mattiussi Ecologia indoor line. 
• The prizes will be awarded during an awards ceremony at a place and date to be announced in advance. 
• The winning projects will be exhibited at upcoming Italian and international trade fairs in which the Company will be participating. 
• All the projects will be displayed in the conference room at the Mattiussi Ecologia headquarters.

Eligibility Criteria

• Participation is open to young designers (aged under 35) and there are no restrictions. 
• Participation may be on an individual basis or in groups. In the latter case, although the authorship of the project belongs equally to all members of the group, it is necessary for the group to nominate a group leader, who will be the contact person for dealings with the Company. 
• Participation as an individual excludes group participation and vice versa. 
• Participation is prohibited for Mattiussi Ecologia employees, members of the panel of judges and their families. 
• Projects must be unpublished and original and developed expressly for the contest. 
• Each participant (or group) may submit no more than two projects.

For more information, visit Mattiussi Ecologia.