Visit to manufacturers in Madrid
Following the trip in Madrid on February 5th, Sven Kallen and Tiago de Santana from Volterra along with Manuel Zapatero, representative of the Comuninad de regantes de El Arenal (COMRA), visited several plastic providers in order to evaluate the best proposal for the new floating trays to be used in the next plantations. First supplier visited was Sundolitt, an EPS manufacturer, which presented how they recycle unused EPS in their plant and how different EPS densities could affect the EPS use. The second supplier was PLAESA, a company focused on the designing and manufacturing of different plastic products. Their commercial director, presented many alternatives to the floating trays. After a long discussion about the different materials and their different manufacturing methods, the teams chose polyethylene and polypropylene as potential materials to be used.
All this investigation has the objective to find the most suitable, sustainable and cost-effective solution to the floating trays. The first floating trays used in 2018 presented some challenges during planting and harvesting and therefore the consortium is evaluating new alternatives. More trials will come in order to decide which material will be used in the next plantations.
Hot wire machine
CNC machine
Die cutter machine