Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki

The Print Your City project encourages Greek citizens to recycle household plastic waste into 3D printed street furniture.

Anchored by: Manasi Tahalani
Photographs: Courtesy: Stefanos Tsakiris

Under Print Your City project created by The New Raw, a Rotterdam-based research and design studio run by the architects Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki, Greek citizens can now recycle their household plastic waste into 3D printed street furniture. The furniture is made primarily from PP and PE plastics (it can also be made from PET and PS plastics) commonly used in food packaging, which is sourced directly from the plastic waste donated to Print Your City’s Zero Waste Lab in Thessaloniki (Greece). The waste is first sorted, washed and shredded before being melted and combined with pigments to create a printable material.

Each object can feature a bike rack or a vaulting horse, a tree pot or even a dog feeding bowl or a bookcase. At Zero Waste Lab, citizens can learn about the recycling process of plastic, read about the circular economy, and design new items of furniture for their neighbourhoods. They can also shape the design and uses of each unique object according to their needs. Citizens can also choose which public space will house their piece, as well as the shape, colour, and specific integrated functions that will promote a healthy and environment-friendly lifestyle in the city.