In the Pieve d’Alpago company, a department has been set up to regenerate the material, which is now taken to landfill. The owner: “It is economically convenient and protects the environment”
PIEVE D’ALPAGO. A second life for plastic waste from eyewear. The company De Pra plastics division Recycling of Pieve d’Alpago has developed a project to recover all the post-production waste of Belluno eyewear, process them with several steps, and therefore be able to give a second life to the material that today is largely delivered a landfill.
The owner of the company, Piervincenzo De Prà, together with his son Giovanni Leonardo has created a special department in his company for the regeneration of all plastic waste, including those from the world of eyewear. The company has installed a unique plant in the province of Belluno, where the transformation and regranulation of nylon and cellulose acetate sheets can be managed with sophisticated technology and specialized personnel.
The plant has a production capacity of 20 tons per day of material and will operate in a continuous cycle. The material can be reused to still produce glasses for glasses, or printed for the production of other products, in the automotive or mechanical sector.
“This idea came to us thinking about the sustainability of production processes and the protection of the environment”, says Piervincenzo De Prà. “The goal is to protect the ecosystem by avoiding that what is considered waste ends up in landfills.” Finally, create a circular green economy, where waste is transformed into a new raw material.
The idea started in 2019: “By chance, during a visit to an eyewear shop, we noticed a myriad of big bags containing the scraps of eyeglass frames, all material ready to be taken to landfills”, continues De Prà. «I immediately thought that it had to be possible to recover that material and not disperse it underground, in a landfill located in a Cadore valley. I also reflected on what could be the damage that certain plastics could cause to the territory and to the aquifers ».
«Having already a plant for the recycling of some plastics, we thought about the possibility of inserting other equipment that would allow us to process eyeglass waste», he continues, «and recover a precious and valid material for a“ second life ”. My son Giovanni Leonardo immediately worked to contact all the companies in the eyewear sector, informing them of our project and our capabilities, immediately specifying the economic convenience and capabilities of our technologies. We immediately found maximum compliance with what was proposed and we proceeded to recover various waste of the two types of product to be processed. With the collaboration of our suppliers of plastic recycling plants, we have managed to obtain excellent and unique results ».
Company technology provides for the selection of materials by type and color. The different particle sizes are subdivided and, with a sophisticated machinery, even the dust originated can be recoveredentities from the processing of the lens cutting or front panels: mixed with other material they become excellent raw material for further processing, explains De Prà