Heilbronn, September 26, 2024. The new ticket wristbands are the creation of environmental service provider PreZero and are now being used at experimenta. As part of a pilot project, the yarn used in the fabric production is sourced from old workwear worn by staff at the retail company Kaufland, which employs more than 155,000 employees at its approximately 1,500 stores across Europe.
“With this cooperation, we are showcasing our ability to create an innovative recycling product with used textiles,” explains Wolf Tiedemann, CEO of PreZero International. “Together with experimenta, we are raising awareness among the public for the resource-conserving use of textiles,” adds Tiedemann. “Around 380,000 people visit experimenta every year. With these new ticket wristbands, we can significantly reduce adverse effects on the environment and make our contribution to the responsible use of resources. We see them as an important component of our sustainability management,” says Prof. Dr. Bärbel Renner, Managing Director of experimenta.
The process from the discarded item of clothing to the sustainable experimenta ticket wristband involves the following production steps: First, PreZero collects the used textiles from Kaufland and ships them to a shredding plant, where they are shredded into fibers. To improve durability and also sustainability, untreated raw cotton is then added to the shredded material to produce yarn. This yarn is then used to make the fabric for the wristbands. These work steps, including the actual production of the ticket wristbands, take place in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The final work step involves adding the “digital backpack” to the ticket wristband at experimenta. Here, an RFID chip on a small carrier card is threaded into the wristband. This allows visitors to the exhibition to save and share any images, films and audio files they create on a user account. Visitors can drop their wristbands into collection boxes located at the exit of experimenta so that these can be reused. The used wristbands are washed and the data on the RFID chips is erased. This closes the loop: The ticket wristband ends up in the hands of new visitors and embarks on many more adventures through Germany's largest science center.
More information about PreZero can be found at our press portal.
