Whalter Whale Filter

Project

267869

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Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS RISING STARS : concepts or ideas submitted by young talents (aged 30 or less)

Project title

Whalter Whale Filter

Full concept/idea title

Description

Whalter Whale filter is a system that allows to purify tap water in order to limit and possibly stop the water plastic bottle waste that is a burden for both land and especially water environment where a lot of marine animals suffer and die because of plastic waste. The aim of the project is to create a sustainable water filter to purify tap water and help to raise the awareness towards environmental problems.

Where is your concept/idea being developed or intended to be implemented in the EU?

Please provide a summary of your concept/ idea

Whalter Whale filter is a system that allows to purify tap water in order to limit and possibly stop the water plastic bottle waste that is a burden for both land and especially water environment where a lot of marine animals suffer and die because of plastic waste. The aim of the project is to create a sustainable water filter to purify tap water and help to raise the awareness towards environmental problems. The problems related to the safety of water are very important, for example only in America, more than 200 million people have cancer cause chromium in their tap water, and in general, tap water may contain other dangerous substances. If we take a look in a broader overview, the situation is very critic, since about 748 million people relay on contaminated or unprotected water and the fact that the 10% of global disease burden could be prevented with improved water supply purification. On the other side water plastic bottles are not a solution for those problems because of their high environmental impact, infact making a plastic bottle takes 2000 times more energy in comparison to production and delivery of tap water and, on an economic side, only 18% is the cost of the water in a plastic bottle and the other 82% is the cost of bottle itself. Plastic bottle problem is a big problem, especially because only 1 in 5 plastic bottles are recycled and the others are dispersed in the environment. For these reasons, i thought that the best solution to guarantee safe and clean water, was to devolope and improve water purifier products and in my concept i tried also to add a strong hidden meaning in order to raise the awareness towards actual environmental problems in particolar, the plastic waste problem in the ocean that make suffer and die more than 1.1 million marine animals every year.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of sustainability and how these would be met

- create a sustainable water filter system in order to limit the water plastic bottle waste problem; - raise the awareness towards environmental problems (especially that more than 1.1 million marine creatures suffer and die every year because of plastic waste in ocean and if we will continue in this way, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fishes in our oceans). Actual water purifiers are a better solution than single use plastic bottles but water purifiers can be a threat to the environment too, for example, more than 100 million cartridges of traditional water filter jugs go to landfill every year that is a big number considering that water filter system are not widely spread today and so there's a lot of space for improvement in that direction and also on the design of those product (they are made of a lot of parts with even different materials and for example, mainstream water jugs have big handles that come out of the product that is an unnecessary waste of material since the handle can be integrated also directly in the main body of the jug, but the biggest problem remains the replaceable cartridges) The following data comes from a LCA that i did on a mainstream water filter jug to compare the LCA that i did for my project, Whalter whale: Whalter whale reduces the process impact from 46.6% to 6%, reduces the material impact from 25.2% to 6%, reduces production impact from 21.4% to 6% and improve the sustainability impact (recycling and life span) from 25.7% of traditional water jugs to 93.9% of Whalter whale filter. My concept tries to meet the sustainability objective by reducing the quantity of material, by choosing an eco-monomaterial, by eliminating the impact of replaceable cartridges (in my concept, there isn't the need for cartridges to contain the filtering material) and the filtering material is completely natural and long lasting (last 6-8 times more) There is also a related app that is meant to maximize the eco performances of the product.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these would be met

The plastic waste problem is even stronger in the marine environment where more than 1.1 million marine animals (whale, sea birds,..) die every year and in particular, that problem was the one who guided in me in helping to choose the shape of the product because i really wanted to raise the awareness about these terrible problems. The shape remembers the shape of a whale because I was speechless when i found out that in 2018, an autopsy revealed that the stomach of a whale contain no food, but was filled with 450 lbs of plastic waste and so i decide to inspire myself to this sad and tragic event. In my opinion, the strong point of the aesthetic of my concept is that through its nice whale shaped appearance it can attract the attention of people, especially kids and then show them the sad reality behind the product in order to move their consciousness and mind to stop plastic waste too and so it's a way to educate and to make aware everyone about these big environmental problems. The shape is a simplified version of a whale inspired by the way we have all imagined whales when we were little children because the aim of the aesthetic is to attract and drove the attention towards the product to let people, especially the youngest, know about these environmental problems thanks to the infographic on the packaging and other extra information available by downloading the related app that can bring even more information and it can help to improve the management of the product (for example, when it's the right time to change the filter material and let us know our contribute in reducing the plastic waste measured in plastic bottles avoided, CO2 emission avoided and litres of oil avoided) and also for example know the quality of the water in your area, the filter status, the filtering time, benefit to the environment and how to dispose the filter, there's an integrated service that allows to buy the filter in one click.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of inclusion and how these would be been met

The product is very easy to use for everyone, infact to purify the water, you have only to drop Whalter whale filter in your jug or glass filled with water and then the product will continue to purify water until you take it off. The assemble of the product is very easy too because there are only few parts that can be assembled only in one way reducing the risk of fail in assembly. There are clear affordances points that suggests how to use the product at its best, for example the typical water splash of the whale becomes the stick that allows you to put the product in the glass or jug hygienically and the ending part of the water splash, thanks to its bended shape is designed to be hung to the border of a deep jug to prevent the product to move freely in the jug (it helps keeping Whalter whale stable even if the product doesn't touch the bottom of the jug/glass)  The product has a main life cycle as a water filter product but before being recycled it can have a second life cycle as keychain or a toy for little kids in order to extend at maximum the life span of the product before being recycled. In a broader overview, since the product uses less amount of material, sustainable mono-material, no more plastic cartridges container, the process has a lower impact in therms of energy consumed (less material to transform), the product will be less expensive and so it can be brought not only in rich countries, but also in poor and developing countries where clean and safe water needs are very urgent. In therms of inclusion, the product can be used by everyone and through its aesthetic it shows environmental problems that concern everyone. Whalter whale comes with a packaging and an app that allows an easy access and knowledge of the main environmental problems, especially plastic water waste problem to everyone. The app easily allows also to optimize the performances in therms of sustainability and durability for every user.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept/ idea

The innovative character of Whalter whale filter is that it tries to combine a sustainable design approach both in the material choices and also in its shape in order to create a coherent message to raise the awareness towards environmental problems, in particular marine plastic waste problems. Whalter whale tries to be the most sustainable water filter by following some of the main ecodesign guidelines (less amount of material, sustainable mono-material to facilitate recycling, no need for replaceable plastic cartridge container when you change the filtering material, long life natural filtering system that can last 6-8 times more than traditional active carbon filters, easy to disassembly to facilitate the final recycling, process and production impact is lower in comparison to mainstream products, spare parts available to extend the life cycle) and it is the only product among its competitors that has a particular shape that can create curiosity and so bring information and aware people, especially the future generations in order to raise the awareness towards one of the main environmental problems (plastic waste and global warming). Whalter tries to achieve the longest life cycle possible thanks to spare parts availability but also thanks to a second life cycle as a keychain or as a little toy for children. In comparison to the competitors, there isn't only the water filter but also a useful packaging with highlights on what and how to use the product and also important environmental information that tells you the story behind the project through a clear and eyecatching infographic and then also the app  contains a lot of useful features to maximize the eco performances of the product and gives other extra information about the sustainable goals of the product (it also encourages you with statistics of how much plastic waste you have avoided because only with the contribute of everyone is possible to stop these problems).

Please detail the plans you have for the further development, promotion and/or implementation of your concept/idea, with a particular attention to the initiatives to be taken before May 2022

Development plan: - 3D print of the product for usability test with users; - app development until it works to test it with users; - engineering of the parts for the 3D printed final prototype according to the usability test results; - app improvements according to user suggestions; - engineering of the parts for injection molding production; - final version of the app to combine with the product; - final version of the system that includes the product, the packaging and the app; - promote it on websites like Behance or try to promote it on magazines/blogs about sustainability; - find a company interested in the project;   In case of problems during the next development plan of Whalter whale filter: - possibility to take previous variations of the whale water filter concept and develop again from there; - possibility to take other previous rough sketches that share the same sustainable points of Whalter whale and then to try to improve and develop them;

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed concept/idea has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Rising Stars Awards more than once in the same category.