2019 Edition

Print Your City is an initiative by The New Raw that explores the concept of applying 3D printing to plastic waste, as a way to re-design urban space. As the name suggests, Print your City is a call for action, rallying citizens to recycle household plastic waste in order to transform it into raw material for public furniture, via a 3D printing process and participatory design. The throwaway lifestyle of contemporary cities has exponentially increased the production of plastic waste. In Greece, residents generate an average of 70 kg of plastic waste per person, annually. Print Your City processes flakes from grinded household plastic waste and 3D prints street furniture and equipment with citizens’ involvement. This results in a very short material circle, which could constantly be fed with additional material from the urban plastic waste streams, thereby achieving long-term adaptation to the city’s evolving needs. At the same time, cities provide fertile ground for large and long-lasting applications of recycled plastic. Print Your City launched its first Zero Waste Lab in Thessaloniki (Greece), equipped with a robotic arm and recycling facilities. Citizens can bring their plastic waste, design custom urban furniture and get actively involved in the recycling process. Hence, the project closes the plastic waste loop with advanced technologies at local level. Interested individuals and organisations can also browse the Print Your City website on-site or from the comfort of their own homes. On the website, citizens can shape the designs and uses of each unique object according to their needs. They can choose which public space will house their piece, as well as the shape, colour, and specific integrated functions that will promote a healthy and environment-friendly lifestyle in the city. Each object can feature a bike rack or a vaulting horse, a tree pot or even a dog feeding bowl or a bookcase. What’s more, the geometries are based on ergonomic curvatures that accommodate a relaxed body posture. Given that a 3/5 standard prototype required 12 hours to print an average 100 kilos of plastic into a pot, the designers decided to improve the quality of the materials and to optimise the design options, in order to reduce the production timeframe. As soon as a citizen finalises his or her design, the Print Your City website provides information on the quantity of plastic that will need recycling in order to generate enough raw material for the 3D printing process. Since the website launch in December 2018, more than 3.000 different designs have been submitted. Among the multiple options available to citizens on the website, the first public space that, starting from January 2019, has been chosen by the citizens of Thessaloniki to host Print Your City pieces is the central Hanth Park. Based on the results from the website that showed the most preferred shapes, colours and extra function, 10 pieces of furniture were produced and installed. In this manner, about 800 kilos of plastic waste was recycled with 3D printing. In this manner, the street furniture are locally sourced and produced, with the participation of the citizens (via design&recycling). The donated material becomes directly furniture, following the steps of : sorting, washing, shredding, robotic 3D For the entire duration of the project, The New Raw aims to recycle four tons of plastic waste, which roughly equates to the same amount produced by 14 family households in Greece. Print Your City is an on-going research and design project initiated by The New Raw in 2016. The Thessaloniki project is developed within the framework of the “Zero Waste Future” programme, conceived and powered by Coca-Cola in Greece, in collaboration with the Municipality of Thessaloniki, Ecorec and Ogilvy Greece. Print Your City by The New Raw is one of the initiatives and a key enabler of the citizens’ behavioural change.