SUSTAINABLE DESIGN: THE CIRCULAR JOURNEY OF PET
Corepla, Fratelli Guzzini , and Costa Crociere S.p.A. together for an innovative circular economy project
Environmental awareness starts with a cultural approach, aiming to rethink products, services, and production processes from a circular perspective, with the goal of minimizing the environmental impact of an object throughout its entire lifecycle.
This journey involves everyone: companies, institutions, citizens, but also visionary technicians and change-makers who understand this shift and work to identify new materials and processes that incorporate the reuse of raw materials from end-of-life products, while addressing the new needs of society. This is the case with plastic, which - when properly collected and recycled - can be transformed into new, eco-sustainable, and design-driven objects.
In this context, the circular economy project by Corepla , Costa Cruises, and F.lli Guzzini was presented today in Civitavecchia aboard the Costa Smeralda. The project aims to repurpose used PET bottles, transforming them into new sustainable and circular design elements.
Watch the full video on YouTube to learn more about the PET recycling process 🎥
The project, which began in May 2024, has already achieved significant results: nearly 40 tons of PET have been collected from three Costa Cruises ships, equivalent to about 2 million PET bottles.
Since May 2024, Costa Cruises ships docking in Civitavecchia have been delivering PET bottles collected on board to the Consortium, through the services of S.E.Port. Corepla then transfers them to a recycler who converts them into secondary raw material (R-PET). F.lli Guzzini uses this material to create new design items, including the Tierra line, which returns aboard Costa Cruises ships to be used by both passengers and crew members. To produce one glass from the Tierra collection, 3.3 PET water bottles (1.5 liters each) are required, and in the first five months of the project, 60,000 Tierra glasses have already been loaded onto four Costa ships.
The project, which carries strong educational value and aims to raise awareness among citizens and tourists about environmental issues, also includes the installation of an eco-compactor on Costa Toscana - one of the three Costa ships that, along with Costa Smeralda and Costa Pacifica, regularly dock in Civitavecchia - provided by Corepla as part of the RecoPet project. This eco-compactor simplifies the process of disposing of PET bottles on board. Bottles placed in the eco-compactor will be recycled and transformed into new design objects.
Giuseppe Carino , Senior Vice President of Guest Experience and Onboard Sales Operations at Costa Cruises, stated: “Resource regeneration is one of the pillars of Costa Cruises' sustainability strategy. On our ships, we perform comprehensive waste sorting, integrated with an approach aimed at developing circular economy projects, going beyond existing regulatory requirements. Specifically, about 80% of PET collected from our ships is recycled. The project we launched in Civitavecchia with Corepla and Guzzini represents another step forward, as it embodies a true circular journey that begins and ends on our ships, transforming used PET bottles into elegant design objects used in our restaurants."
Recommended by LinkedIn
"Supporting quality separate collection projects through a real circular economy model allows us to promote the cultural values linked to environmental sustainability while also providing a practical example of shared responsibility,” - said ANTONIO Protopapa , Director of Operational Management at Corepla - "Separate collection of plastic packaging has already reached excellence levels, and now we aim to increase the recovery of PET bottles and demonstrate that ecological and energy transition must come from a change in mindset where companies and designers collaborate to create increasingly circular products, engaging the community in selective collection processes."
Sergio Grasso , CEO of F.lli Guzzini, stated: "Being one of the key players in creating a complete cycle that fully expresses the concept of the circular economy is a significant and exciting achievement for us, as it reflects our values of corporate ethics and responsibility. Our company has been a pioneer in the use of post-consumer recycled plastics, and this virtuous triangle we’ve established with Corepla and Costa Cruises demonstrates once again that while much can be achieved individually, infinitely more can be accomplished together.”
Tierra, designed by Pio e Tito Toso _ industrial design / architects , is the world's first tableware collection made by recycling single-use plastic water bottles, specifically post-consumer recycled plastic. It represents a revolution in both material and style, born from a gradual process of identifying materials suitable for food contact, resistant to high temperatures, and dishwasher-safe. A series of items made in Italy, embodying the expertise of a company that has always worked with plastics and, starting today, is doing so in a way that preserves the environment while creating beauty with recycled and recyclable post-consumer materials with improved functional performance.
Costa Cruises' participation in this initiative is part of its commitment to promoting sustainable, inclusive, and high-quality tourism, an area where the Italian company has been a pioneer in the cruise industry. On board Costa ships, 100% of waste is sorted, and where possible, waste is directed to recycling. Waste sorting on the Costa fleet includes separating PET, a practice not required by current MARPOL regulations but adopted as a virtuous behavior on board Costa ships.
Costa Smeralda
Costa Smeralda is a next-generation ship, powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), the most advanced technology in the maritime sector for reducing emissions, which Costa was the first in the world to introduce in the cruise industry. LNG has lower emissions than traditional marine fuels: in addition to reducing CO2 emissions by up to 20%, it virtually eliminates nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, and particulate emissions. The ship's entire daily water supply is produced by desalinating seawater, and energy consumption is minimized thanks to an intelligent energy efficiency system. Moreover, 100% of waste is sorted on board, and materials such as plastic, paper, glass, and aluminum are recycled as part of an integrated approach aimed at realizing circular economy projects.
The driftwood decorating the restaurant islands of Archipelago, where menus designed by renowned chefs Bruno Barbieri , Hélène Darroze , and Alevante - Ángel León - El Chef del Mar offer a culinary exploration of the destinations, was recovered through "Guardians of the Coast," an environmental education program for the protection of Italy’s coastline promoted by the Costa Crociere Foundation. For every dinner enjoyed at Archipelago, Costa Cruises donates part of the proceeds to support the foundation's environmental and social projects.
The ship's interiors are the result of an extraordinary creative project, curated by Adam D. Tihany Design , designed to celebrate and bring to life the colors and atmospheres of Italy in one location. Furniture, light
ing, fabrics, and accessories are all "Made in Italy," created by 15 partners highly representative of Italian excellence.