Design and development of a compact mosquito net with innovative applications for environmental impact reduction

When dealing with the design or revamping of products or services in the modern days, it is necessary to take into account the effects of global concerns such as climate change and environmental pollution. During this process, it is essential to make use of established techniques, such as the 3R recovery approach and the circular economy approach, both of which aim to reduce the amount of waste produced while simultaneously increasing recycling, regeneration, and reusability. The current work is set in this framework, presenting a study that was carried out within a manufacturing company of mosquito nets, during the process of designing and industrialization of a novel type of product. In particular, the work has three main goals. The first one is related to the identification of possible reuses for mosquito nets that have reached the end of their useful lives. The aim is in this case to mitigate the impact that the product takes on the environment, opening up new avenues of commercial activity for the business. To address this issue, several strategies for finding new product applications have been researched and analysed in the available literature, choosing the most suitable one for this case. The technique involves the employing of patent databases to perform ad-hoc searches and retrieve a set of Cooperative Patent Classifications (CPCs). These CPCs contain descriptions of application fields that can be used as external stimuli in the creative process. No other industrial applications of this method are known in the literature. Therefore, this can be considered as a reference for future similar purposes. The results acquired in terms of generated ideas are ultimately exposed, offering a practical example of reuse in the textile context. Furthermore, the phases of designing and developing the new product, where the net would be utilized, are described in detail. In comparison to the existing state of the art, four key innovations were developed and subsequently industrialized. These innovations aim to create a compact product that prioritizes safe and easy installation, high reliability, and aesthetic appeal, especially for the Italian and European markets. The final part of the study aims instead to investigate the effectiveness of textual stimuli of the form previously employed in generating larger, more original and varied sets of ideas in the creative process of identifying new product application fields. To explore this, an experimental test was conducted with a group of volunteers. Contrary to expectations, the results indicate that this type of textual stimuli has no significant impact on the outcomes in terms of these metrics.