The ceremony of the Recycling Machine Project awards took place on the March 31, at the Taguspark campus of the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). This collaborative and multidisciplinary project aimed to create a design for an innovative recycling machine using end-of-life materials.
Joana Shirley, a materials engineering student at IST, was the winner, receiving 700 euros for 1st place. Daniela Silva (2nd place), Madalena Fernandes, and Bernardo Palma (3rd place) were also awarded a monetary prize.
As Ana Carvalho (Silab Co-Founder) mentioned, “ Scientific knowledge has been transferred in the design of the machine itself, as well as in the development of new algorithms to detect and separate the residues, and on the gamification app, which is associated with the machine.”
As pointed out in the ceremony, those kinds of projects are crucial to engaging the community and particularly young people in the major environmental challenges we face.
On the other hand, Pedro Patacho (alderman of the Municipality of Oeiras) underlined the importance of this proximity between Scientific structures (such as SILAB) to society to develop scientific literacy and improve interest in science by people.
