When you think about the life of a motorcyclist and how many helmets they go through, there's an undeniable amount of waste attached to each lid. Even if a rider hasn't crashed in or damaged a helmet, most manufacturers recommend that riders replace them every 5-7 years. Strange, then, that it's taken so long for a manufacturer to come up with a solution for this problem, but Dainese, the owner of AGV Helmets, has one.
Life Impacto is a solution designed to change the linear life cycle of motorcycle helmets. It focuses on overcoming the challenges of how to dispose of helmets sustainably and creating a circular process based on selective dissolution recycling. But it's not just Dainese Group, the project is being rolled out by a consortium of five Italian companies including Innovandoo, Re-sport, Mistano&Stracuzzi, and Università di Bologna.
The ability to make this project work lies in an innovative recycling plant that enables the separation of the key plastic materials (ABS, EPS, and PC) that a helmet is composed of. Then, these materials can be reused in the creation of a new helmet.
