Last week, on 3 May, a public engagement event was held at the Planetarium Hall at the Esplora Interactive Science Centre for Project RE-STONE. RE-STONE is a project spearheaded by the University鈥檚 Associate and architect Franco Montesin, funded by Fusion (the R&I Programme administered by MCST), and in collaboration with Halmann Vella. For the past six years, the University鈥檚 Andras Havasi, a manager from the Knowledge Transfer Office, has been guiding the project from its early days to the stage it鈥檚 at today.
The project consists of a novel technology which was developed to reconstitute limestone and concrete waste into a viable building and/or decorative material. There is still no present solution for recycling waste generated by building materials, which accounts for a large proportion of all of the EU鈥檚 waste. However, RE-STONE offers the opportunity to reduce Malta鈥檚 construction waste and also preserve our heritage by re-introducing globigerina limestone (a rapidly decreasing natural resource) into our future constructions.
At the event, Hon. Keith Azzopardi Tanti, the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Research and Innovation, and Mr Clayton Cutajar, Director for Esplora Interactive Science Centre delivered speeches during this event. Towards the end of the day, a panel discussion was held to discuss the possible applications of the technology and the future of RE-STONE.
