Life Impacto

Life Impacto is an innovative project that will radically change the current life cycle of motorcycle helmets, whose plastic components are assembled using processes that make their separation and recycling not industrially and economically feasible. Therefore, currently, old helmets mostly end up in landfills where they are incinerated. 

The challenge of the Life Impacto project is to realize a sustainable industrial process to recover polymeric materials (ABS, EPS and PC) from old helmets and reuse them to create new helmets that are safe, approved, and designed from the start to be recycled more easily. Separation of the plastic components is achieved by selective dissolution with solvents of biological origin obtained from citrus industry waste. Used helmets will be collected through a campaign aimed directly at consumers.

Life Impacto is a project that profoundly revolutionizes the disposal of motorcycle helmets: we move from a linear model where the end-of-life helmet is a problem to be managed with high environmental impact to a circular model where it becomes, instead, a high-value resource to be recovered and reused.

The project is co-funded by the European Community as a result of winning the LIFE23 subprogramme Circular Economy and Quality of Life call to tender.

The project is being rolled out by a consortium of five Italian companies:

  • Dainese Group in the role of coordinator
  • Innovating, an innovative SME specializing in reverse logistics
  • Re-sport, a start-up spin-off from the University of Bologna which is focused on innovative technologies for recycling composite sports equipment
  • Misitano & Stracuzzi, suppliers of bio-based solvents extracted from citrus fruit waste
  • University of Bologna for the research and development component of the project

Life Impacto will have a real and tangible impact on the environment:

  • 3,700 kg of ABS, 1,056 kg of EPS and 600 kg of PC are recovered from 5,000 recycled helmets
  • -60% CO2 emissions
  • -60% electricity consumption
  • -50% water consumption

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.