Epson, Seaqual and LCI Barcelona join forces in the B·SEArcular project

In mid-January, our campus hosted the presentation of B·SEArcular, an initiative that bets on the circular economy as a solution to give new use to the plastic waste of the Mediterranean Sea. The aim of the project is to reintroduce into the economic structure these polluting materials which are growing alarmingly (according to Greenpeace, they already account for 60% of marine debris).

Raúl Sanahuja, responsible for communication at Epson Ibérica, explained B·SEArcular to the attendees and announced the name of the Fashion Design project students who will bring creative talent to the initiative. In their respective end-of-career collections, María Odriozola, Gibet Pons, Maria Molina and Maitena Vega will use a Seaqual certified fabric obtained from plastics recovered from the Mediterranean by the Fishermen's Guild of Barcelona. Thanks to Epson's SureColor printing technology, they will be able to print any design on the cloth using the sublimation ink technique, with considerable savings in water and energy consumption compared to traditional methods. The resulting garments will be totally ecological and, once their useful life is over, they can be recycled and turned back into hanks of polyester thread, thus closing the project circle.

The session was also attended by Michel Chtepa, CEO of Seaqual, who talked about the objectives of the initiative, as well as the values and mission of his company: "We want to provide industry and society in general with sustainable and circular economy solutions that serve as inspiration". To achieve this, they are creating a collaboration network between different sectors (fishermen, NGOs, companies, national and local authorities, etc.).

Michel Chtepa talked about Seaqual's mission

The different phases of the project will be developed in the coming months. B·SEArcular will culminate in a presentation of the eco-fashion collections made by our students, who will demonstrate that design, innovation and sustainability can go hand in hand to obtain incredible results. Follow the initiative's progress through the hashtag #BSEArcular.