Progress

December 2017 – February 2018

-The ECO TILES Terrazzo products were selected for the flooring of the “Museum of production and electricity” in S. Severino Marche (Italy).

-The ECO TILES project received an honorable mention during the event “Ridurre si può nelle Marche”.

-The results of the ECO TILES research were presented at the AGU Fall Meeting (New Orleans, 11-15 / 12/2017.

September – November 2017

– The dissemination of project results continues with the participation of ECO TILES to several events: from technical-scientific congresses such as Geosciences: a tool in a changing world (Pisa, 3-6 September) or the ERSCP 2017 (Skiathos Island, 1 -5 October), to exhibitions in the building or green field such as CERSAIE 2017 (Bologna, September 27-28) and ECOMONDO 2017 (Rimini, 7-10 November). The results of the project were always greeted with great interest, that fostered the creation of strong partnerships, e.g. with Legambiente Onlus.

– The external performance tests, aimed to verify if the ECO TILES products are in line with the UNI standards for the Indoor Terrazzo tiles, are completed. The results show that eco-sustainable products obtained from waste materials are excellent substitutes of flooring cementitious-based materials.

– The socio-economic analysis of the ECO TILES project is completed. The results showed that potential buyers of flooring products will positively welcome an innovation similar to ECO TILES, however they highlight the necessity of providing a certification for he product both in terms of technical performance and a certification of the supply chain and energy.

July – August 2017

– LIFE ECOTILES was present at the meeting entitled “Good Practices for Use of Recycled Material, Implications and Policies, a Roadside and Civil Application Example” organized by the LIFE REFIBRE project (www.refibre.eu) with the aim of presenting innovative methods and technologies for the construction and maintenance of road pavements, starting from the basic theoretical and practical aspects.

– The collection of “questionnaire for the evaluation of the interest in new industrial production of ecological grits (terrazzo tiles)” is finished and data processing is starting.

– ECO TILES demo tiles are ready for final testing and fine tuning. The testing campaign is concentrated on the main technical parameters according to the UNI EN 13748-1 standards. The quality of the tiles in terms of color, thickness, dimensions and roughness of surface is tested internally to Grandinetti s.r.l., while the main physical properties (e.g. mechanical strength, water absorption, breaking strength) will be tested externally to Grandinetti s.r.l.

June 2017

– LIFE ECOTILES was present to the workshop “Minerali e Ceramiche: ieri, oggi e domani” held in Parma on the 13-14 of June. The event was organized by Gruppo Nazionale Mineralogia (GNM) and Gruppo Georisorse, Ambiente e Beni Culturali (GABEC) and it focused on different possible application of ceramic materials and related advanced technologies in the ceramic industry.

– Similarly to the first version, the second version of the notice board has been completed. The new notice board (available in the Dissemination section of the website) features three text-boxes describing the project, the different typologies of LIFE ECO TILES and the differences between a single and a double layer ECO TILE.

April – May 2017

– LIFE ECOTILES project was present at the LIFE Platform Meeting in Sassuolo on the 11th of April. The event “l’esperienza dei progetti life per la sostenibilità ambientale dell’industria ceramica e dei laterizi” gave a complete overview on the European projects on green innovation in ceramics and building materials. In this context LIFE ECOTILES project successfully contributed by showing the innovation and sustainability of waste material based tiles products.

– Organization of the networking workshop “Ambiente e rifiuti: innovazione, esperienze ed opportunità della progettazione europea”. The event took place in Camerino on the 23rd of May in the frame of the LIFE funding programme 25-year anniversary. The Workshop succeed among companies, institutions and students who strongly participated also to the visit at the Grandinetti s.r.l factory in San Severino Marche.

– The appeal of the demo tiles have been evaluated by questionnaires, which were also distributed during the ECO TILES event to stakeholders. As a matter of facts, the evaluation questionnaires are in order to investigate the degree of potential customers appreciation toward an ecological product for flooring.

– After in-situ testing and optimization activities on the demo products, it follows an iterative fine-tuning strategy to achieve target quality and performance of the tile products. This action (B2) is closely entwined with action B1 (realization of the demonstrative products) as a follow up to the characterization activities carried out in action A1 and A2..

February – March 2017

– The first testing campaign of the demo products was planned in order to evaluate their quality and allow to make the first tuning of the products and identify the specific characteristics of the tiles for special industrial or civil applications.

– LIFE ECOTILES participated to the final event of the LIFE Sanitser project held in Civita Castellana on the 10th of March. The event, which aimed to show the 3-years results of the project and gather ideas about recycling in the frame of sanitary industries, gave the opportunity to LIFE ECOTILES project to meet with other LIFE projects (e.g. LIFE GreenSinks) and make good contacts with different associations (e.g. Centro Ceramico Bologna).

December 2016 – January 2017

– LIFE ECOTILES was featured on local newspaper and TV news highlighting its role on “rebuilding after the earthquake in the name of eco-sustainability”.

– Organization of the first Life ECOTILES workshop “I rifiuti come risorsa” held in Civitanova Marche (Italy) on the 27th of January. The workshop succeeded leading to a good interaction between the speakers and the audience, testifying the great interest generated by environmental issues. As a conclusion of the day ECOTILES promoted the creation of a local network including companies and agencies interested in recovering and recycling.

October – November 2016

– Redaction of an evaluation questionnaire in paper and online format for architects, distributors and private residential customers.

– ECOTILES partners introduced the project and the first demo tiles to financial supporters at Business and Career Days 2016 and Comitato dei Sostenitori with great interest from the attendees.

September 2016

– Life ECOTILES was present at the following events: EMC2016, INERTIA 2016 and CERSAIE 2016. At EMC2016, the ECOTILES project was introduced to the scientific community as an speech contribution. At CERSAIE 2016 fair, held in Bologna, the first demo tiles were introduced to the general public and resellers with great interest of the attendees.

– First formulation of questionnaires on paper and online for architects, distributors and consumers to be distributed during meeting events.

– After a first phase of the project, which was carried out together with a team of experts and architects at Grandinetti srl, the choice of compositions and design has been focused on the three classes: standard, extra-ware and design, mainly based on the choice of recycled material, together with dimensions and colors of the tiles.

July – August 2016

– Second newsletter ready describing the advancements on waste glass characterization and green building certification.

– Started the production of the first demo tiles with glass waste from glass landfill for presentation at the Cersaie fair (September 2016). Two types of double-layer demo tiles were designed; the first one named “fiasco” (20×20 cm, recycled green glass) and the second one named “lunotto” (40×40 cm, colorless car glasses).

May – June 2016

– First evaluation of the Environmental Impact Assessment and Life cycle assessment with the aim to identify all the different steps involved in the production of ECOTILES starting from the choice of the waste material is made.

– The ECOTILES project is presented at several events to gather new contacts for networking, in particular during the 4th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste in Cyprus.

April 2016

– First tiles produced were evaluated. Started the production of tiles with different ceramic and cement mixes. First trial tiles with up to 78% of recycled materials.

– Found new interesting companies dealing with ceramic/glass/CDW to involve in the production of prototypes and in the networking.

March 2016

– Full characterization and evaluation of the waste collected.

– First tiles using different types of waste have been experimented; few problems already solved, some materials discarded, new compositions and materials still necessary.

– Website running online, both in Italian and English

January – February 2016

– Individuation of the industries producing waste in the area and in other regions, in order to involve them  in the project for the waste use and/or get their interest in participating to the network.

– Collection of different types of waste materials, including industrial glasses and ceramics, from waste landfills and from the networking industries. Characterization of the natural materials (quartz, marbles) of different color or granulometry, to be analyzed and verified both as aggregate and fine powders. Additionally Grandinetti provided different natural materials already traditionally used in the preparation of their products.

– Design of the logo, website and dissemination material. Organization of the dissemination plan, with special attention on social media, conferences and fairs. See also the “dissemination” section of the website.

– First newsletter ready describing the partners and the goals of the project

Ottobre – November 2015

– LIFE project kick-off meeting in Bruxelles, a workshop where all the projects financed in the 2014 were present and several seminars were given concerning the various aspects of the management of the LIFE projects. Moreover, the participants had the possibility to interact each other and to start spreading ideas about future partnerships.

– Collection of urban glass wastes from different sources with the aim to chemically characterize and start to identify which can be the best components to be used in the terrazzo tile production.

September 2015

– Beginning of the ECOTILES project, that involved the collaboration between the University of Camerino and the Grandinetti company with the purpose of designing and producing a terrazzotile with up to 70% of recycled materials.