The international design brand Carlo Ratti Associates developed the prototype of a small experimental bar.
The kiosk, called 'Feel the peel', dispenses freshly squeezed orange juice with a peculiarity: it uses the remaining peels as material to 3D print the recyclable glasses in which the juice is served.
The prototype is created in collaboration with Eni.
How Feel the Peel is made
A cheerful and elegant kiosk, with a large prize-winner surmounted by a dome that acts as an orange holder: it can contain up to 1500. A 3D printer dominates at its base.
How does it work?
Once the order is placed, the machine begins to show off its fabulous mechanisms: the oranges glide gently towards the press, give their juice and end up through a tube accumulating their skins on the bottom of the structure.
In this container all the orange peels are dried, chopped and then mixed with polylactic acid to become a bioplastic. A short passage at high temperature and the material, reduced in the form of a filament, is ready to create in 3D the glasses to be filled with the delicious freshly pressed juice.
A rather clear study on how even the smallest habits of our lives can enter a virtuous circle: that of aeconomy without waste, which recycles and reuses.
The principle of the circular economy is increasingly at the center of the debate. “We tried to show circularity in a tangible way,” says Carlo Ratti, “developing a machine that helps us understand how oranges can be reused. Upcoming 'Feel the Peel' models May include new features, even fabric printing.”
Feel the Peel made its debut this summer in Rimini, but will also be installed at the summit of the Singularity University Summit in Milan on 8 and 9 October.
