THE PROJECT
This project has been developed during the Ecodesign Master course, Open Systems, from March to July 2014 in Politecnico di Torino.
The purpose of this project is to build a new effective system, which can reduce the consumption equalizing inputs and outputs of each components included in the old economical system, depending on specific territorial situation closely according to the systemic research method.
We decided to work on the reuse of exhausted coffee grounds since we thought that it could have been interesting to have some relations with a company that is present on the territory: Lavazza. Moreover, Italian people like coffee very much and they drink a lot of cups every day: that’s why it is a well rooted beverage in Italy. Since the first day we thought that it would have been a really interesting argument to work on. Here at Politecnico some students and researchers presented in the past some thesis about the uses of coffee grounds, but none of them, nowadays, focused on the use them at home, designing a system of the uses (or we can call it “map”)
Our research started by analyzing both the actual flows of coffee consumption at home and at the bar. We understood the quantities, the ways for drinking it and the production of wastes in these places. But non only: we also tried to analyze in a more specific way all the processes happening behind the cups people usually drink, like the growth and the harvest, the transportation and the roasting and the final distribution in supermarkets (GDO).
We are aware on the fact that the project we are focusing on is taking care of just the last steps of this huge production chain, that has several weakness and intrinsic problems, but at the same time we would like to sensitize people on the possible solutions and especially on a change of mind and habits.
