Gardascuola’s project on Aquafil’s industrial sustainability and circular economy

Gardascuola is a high school situated in Arco, Italy, where also Aquafil’s headquarter is located. The long-running cooperation between the school and Aquafil has encouraged classes to participate in different activities to let students understand how sustainability is approached by companies. This way, the students learned how Aquafil works respecting the environment and applying the principles of circular economy. 

The 2023 project started with an introduction at school to polymers and plastics and the environmental problems related to their use, production and disposal. Students learned what nylon is and how Aquafil produces ECONYL® regenerated nylon. They also participated in a new virtual experience called “ECONYL® on air” and visited the headquarter of Aquafil.

The second part of the project involved a school trip to Slovenia. The students first visited Fonda, a sustainable fishfarm that collaborates with Aquafil since a long time providing us with their used Nylon 6 nets that, together with the other waste, are regenerated by us into ECONYL® nylon.  The students then followed the ECONYL® regeneration process visiting AquafilSLO plants in Ajdovscina and Lubiana and ended their journey in Atlantis Aquapark to understand how Aquafil conveys excess thermal energy to warm up their neighboring swimming pools. 

When in Lubiana, they presented their project work regarding their own startup company producing a sustainable product using recyclable materials and ECONYL® nylon.

The students truly enjoyed the experience and the teachers were really proud of them, saying that “this project was full of really interesting activities that positively stimulated the students to reflect on themes that are not always included in normal school works,” hoping they can put sustainability into practice in their future career and beyond.