Finding sustainable solutions doesn’t have to mean doing without – on the contrary! OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences as “Innovation Partner” of the World Floorball Championships 2022 proves that you can implement great projects with innovative ideas and produces the WFC-Awards from discarded floorball material.

In the past months, old, broken floorballs and discarded stick blades were collected in many arenas in Switzerland. This material was then taken to the Institute for Materials Technology and Plastics Processing (IWK) at the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences. To obtain a sufficient amount of plastic, this material was supplemented with plastic waste from the sea. At the IWK it was shredded and melted using a specially developed process and extruded to filaments for 3D printers. The filament is, so to speak, the printer ink for the 3D printer. Two half-shells of an oversized floorball are printed and bonded together. In this way, new life is breathed into old floorball material.

For Prof. Dr. Frank Ehrig, head of the IWK, it was clear in which direction the OST’s contribution to the WFC 2022 should go: “Sustainability is an important topic for the World Floorball Championships, so we wanted to make a contribution in this area. With our in-house development for the production of filaments made from recycled material for 3D printers, we were able to offer the perfect solution for recycling old floorball material.”

The players who are selected to the All-Star team will receive one of the exceptional awards. Furthermore, the winning project of the Green Goal Award on Switzerland’s quarterfinal day on November 10 will also receive a sustainably produced award.

Find out how broken floorballs become awards in the video.