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On Tues­day, June 11th, 2025, the head­quar­ters of INVESTEKO S.A. once again became a cen­ter of learn­ing and inspi­ra­tion. This time, a group of stu­dents from the Con­struc­tion School Com­plex in Chorzów, par­tic­i­pat­ing in the plas­ti­cLIFE­cy­cle project, vis­it­ed the com­pa­ny. The meet­ing offered an oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­cuss the respon­si­ble man­age­ment of plas­tics and the chal­lenges of pro­tect­ing the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment.

The stu­dents explored the con­cept of the cir­cu­lar econ­o­my from both the­o­ret­i­cal and prac­ti­cal per­spec­tives.

Plas­tics – Chal­lenges and Respon­si­bil­i­ty

The ses­sion began with a lec­ture by Piotr Góral from EkoPart­ner Sile­sia Sp. z o.o., who intro­duced par­tic­i­pants to dif­fer­ent types of plas­tics and the risks aris­ing from their improp­er use. How­ev­er, this was far from a typ­i­cal class­room expe­ri­ence — stu­dents observed how plas­tics react­ed to fire and water, which sparked great inter­est and numer­ous ques­tions, includ­ing those about changes in odor and struc­ture under vary­ing tem­per­a­tures.

From Waste to Raw Mate­r­i­al

The next stage of the vis­it took place at the PLC instal­la­tion, where stu­dents wit­nessed the process of recov­er­ing raw mate­ri­als from plas­tic waste. They fol­lowed the material’s trans­for­ma­tion — from dis­card­ed waste to a valu­able resource ready for reuse.

Con­ver­sa­tion and Local His­to­ry

After the prac­ti­cal ses­sion, there was time for dis­cus­sion and reflec­tion. The stu­dents engaged in live­ly exchanges, ask­ing ques­tions and shar­ing their impres­sions. The day con­clud­ed with a vis­it to the KWK Pol­s­ka Tow­er, where Witold Szwed­kows­ki, respon­si­ble for com­mu­ni­ca­tions with­in the Archi­cli­ma project, spoke about the region’s rich indus­tri­al his­to­ry.

This meet­ing was not only a les­son in recy­cling and envi­ron­men­tal aware­ness but also an inspi­ra­tion to make con­scious, every­day choic­es. It remind­ed par­tic­i­pants that pos­i­tive change begins with each of us — here and now.

 

On Mon­day, June 10th, 2025, the head­quar­ters of INVESTEKO S.A. once again became a space for edu­ca­tion and knowl­edge shar­ing. This time, we host­ed stu­dents from the Con­struc­tion School Com­plex in Chorzów, who vis­it­ed as part of the plas­ti­cLIFE­cy­cle project to learn about respon­si­ble plas­tic man­age­ment and envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion.

A group of around twen­ty stu­dents par­tic­i­pat­ed in both the­o­ret­i­cal and prac­ti­cal ses­sions devot­ed to the cir­cu­lar econ­o­my and the chal­lenges asso­ci­at­ed with syn­thet­ic waste.

Plas­tics Under the Micro­scope

The work­shop began with a the­o­ret­i­cal ses­sion led by Piotr Góral from EkoPart­ner Sile­sia Sp. z o.o. Stu­dents learned about var­i­ous types of plas­tics and the risks aris­ing from their improp­er dis­pos­al or pro­cess­ing. Instead of a tra­di­tion­al lec­ture, they observed engag­ing exper­i­ments involv­ing fire and water, which sparked curios­i­ty and inspired numer­ous ques­tions — includ­ing how mate­r­i­al prop­er­ties change under dif­fer­ent tem­per­a­tures.

Tech­nol­o­gy and Recy­cling in Prac­tice

A key high­light of the pro­gram was a vis­it to the PLC plant, where stu­dents could observe the mod­ern process of mate­r­i­al recov­ery from plas­tic waste. Once the waste arrives at the plant, it under­goes a series of trans­for­ma­tion stages until it becomes a valu­able raw mate­r­i­al ready for reuse.

Dis­cus­sion, Reflec­tion, and Local His­to­ry

Fol­low­ing the tech­ni­cal ses­sions, par­tic­i­pants had time for dis­cus­sion and reflec­tion. The stu­dents asked addi­tion­al ques­tions, shared their impres­sions, and engaged in con­ver­sa­tions with the pre­sen­ters. The vis­it con­clud­ed at the KWK Pol­s­ka Tow­er, where Jago­da Stuła, respon­si­ble for project com­mu­ni­ca­tions, spoke about the region’s rich indus­tri­al her­itage.

This event was not only a valu­able les­son in sus­tain­abil­i­ty and recy­cling but also an inspir­ing call to action — show­ing that change begins with every­day, con­scious choic­es. Thanks to such ini­tia­tives, the younger gen­er­a­tion gains both the knowl­edge and moti­va­tion to active­ly con­tribute to envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion.

On June 3, 2025, anoth­er DEMO work­shop was held as part of the plas­ti­cLIFE­cy­cle project. This time, the par­tic­i­pants were stu­dents from the Acad­e­my of Fine Arts, Katow­ice, who had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see first­hand how the PLC demo plant for sort­ing and pro­cess­ing plas­tics oper­ates.

The work­shop focused on mod­ern solu­tions in recy­cling and design. The stu­dents showed great inter­est in explor­ing the poten­tial of recy­cled plas­tics for artis­tic and func­tion­al appli­ca­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the con­text of 3D print­ing. Dis­cus­sions cov­ered strate­gies for design­ing with addi­tive tech­nolo­gies, as well as ways to com­bine aes­thet­ics with func­tion­al­i­ty and envi­ron­men­tal respon­si­bil­i­ty.

Dur­ing the meet­ing, par­tic­i­pants also learned about effec­tive mate­r­i­al prepa­ra­tion for recy­cling and how such stan­dards – known as the PLC stan­dard – can sup­port more informed and sus­tain­able design prac­tices.

The event demon­strat­ed that issues relat­ed to the cir­cu­lar econ­o­my are increas­ing­ly find­ing their place with­in art and design, open­ing new oppor­tu­ni­ties for cre­ative and respon­si­ble explo­ration.

Beneficiaries
Co-financing institutions

Objective 1

                                      to design, implement, test and validate the pilot PLC plant for efficient sorting of mixed hard plastic waste

Objective 2

                                    to implement standardized PLC-compatible procedures for mixed hard plastic waste pre-sorting in municipal waste treatment plants and thus to create standardized waste stream as an input to PLCplant (3,500t/y)

Objective 3

                                  to design, implement, test and validate the pilot unit for production of tailored compounds for products manufacturing with 70-90% recycled material from PLC (capacity 400t/y)

Objective 4

                                            to design, implement, test and validate the innovative mobile 3Dprinting prototype with 100% recycled material from PLC (capacity 65t/y)

Objective 5

                                    to establish new circular business network (i.e. PLCnetwork) to boost cooperation between municipal waste treatment plants, plastic-recyclers and converters (12 plants, 3 countries)

Objective 6

                                        to increase the quality of recycled polyolefins reaching levels of food packaging production - 3 newly developed tailored compounds

Objective 7

                                      to develop 5 market-ready products using bulk amounts (70-100%) of PLC-recycled materials

Objective 8

                                          to prepare PLCtechnology replication&transfer starting with environmental decisions for two full-scale plants

Objective 1

                                      to design, implement, test and validate the pilot PLC plant for efficient sorting of mixed hard plastic waste

Objective 2

                                    to implement standardized PLC-compatible procedures for mixed hard plastic waste pre-sorting in municipal waste treatment plants and thus to create standardized waste stream as an input to PLCplant (3,500t/y)

Objective 3

                                  to design, implement, test and validate the pilot unit for production of tailored compounds for products manufacturing with 70-90% recycled material from PLC (capacity 400t/y)

Objective 4

                                            to design, implement, test and validate the innovative mobile 3Dprinting prototype with 100% recycled material from PLC (capacity 65t/y)

Objective 5

                                    to establish new circular business network (i.e. PLCnetwork) to boost cooperation between municipal waste treatment plants, plastic-recyclers and converters (12 plants, 3 countries)

Objective 6

                                        to increase the quality of recycled polyolefins reaching levels of food packaging production - 3 newly developed tailored compounds

Objective 7

                                      to develop 5 market-ready products using bulk amounts (70-100%) of PLC-recycled materials

Objective 8

                                          to prepare PLCtechnology replication&transfer starting with environmental decisions for two full-scale plants

Reduction of greenhouse gases (tons/year)

5355

Reduction of waste (tons/year)

3500

Dissemination and publicity (workshops & conferences)

60

Recycling capacity (tons/year)

2800

The solution for the management of mixed hard PLASTIC waste by applying CIrCuLar Economy approach.

Investeko S.A.

Wojska Polskiego 16G

41-600 Świętochłowice

tel: 32 258 55 80

fax: 32 707 45 33

biuro@investeko.pl

NIP: 634-281-00-82

REGON: 242953362

KRS: 0000420405

© 2025 Investeko S.A.

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plasticLIFEcycle project no. LIFE21/ENV/PL/074161 has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union and from the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management