Precious Plastic

Inspired by the Precious Plastic movement — open, low-cost machines for recycling plastic at neighbourhood scale — the project brought together environmental awareness, creativity and digital skills. Buinho built the machines from scratch in its FabLab and made Messejana the place where the partners learned to build, maintain and use them.

First, 14 youth workers from seven countries took an intensive training in Messejana on building and using the machines, with visits to circular economy projects in Lisbon. Then 42 young people with fewer opportunities — for most of them, their first international experience — took part in an exchange at Buinho: they learned Arduino, 3D printing and how to work with the machines, organised plastic collection with the local community and designed their own products.

The effect continued after the project. The Turkish partner started building machines and setting up one of the first Precious Plastic workshops in Türkiye, in Istanbul; the Greek partner began coordinating the set-up of a network of workshops in Crete; the French partner joined two local associations to create Orléans' first workshop. In Messejana, Buinho's workshop grew into a community recycling centre. The project was also behind Alentejo's first Circular Economy Days, organised with the Municipality of Aljustrel and ESDIME, and it received the Erasmus+ Good Practice label.

• 14 youth workers trained and 42 young people in the exchange, from 7 countries
• More than 50 kg of plastic collected and recycled with the community
• Precious Plastic workshops launched by the partners in Istanbul, Orléans and Crete
• Precious Plastic handbook published on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform

Partners