Precious Plastic

💥 We received 100 ideas for small-scale recycling innovations! 💥 It wasn't easy to choose the projects we would support with the Precious Plastic Open Source Fund, but we've finally selected the winners 🏆 We received 100 applications from 67 organisations across 35 countries and €103,115.00 donations for the winning projects. And will fund: ⚙️ 7 How-tos 🔎 16 Research topics 🫶 39 Retroactive awards for the knowledge shared with the Community within the past years ⏩️ Check out the winning projects in our recent YT video ⏩️ https://lnkd.in/dBVQDfqe And if you want to have access to some more exclusive info on the PPOSF, become a Patreon supporter: https://lnkd.in/d5uQtR55

This is a heavy message to send, but essential for the future of Precious Plastic. It will either make it or not. After years of pushing boundaries in plastic recycling and building a global community of change-makers, we’re at a crossroad:  1: ☠ Let Precious Plastic Die: It build a global community of recyclers, it achieved its mission and that’s it. We learned valuable lessons and the community will probably stay online for a bit but would slowly fade away. 2: 💪 Push it to the next level: There is still lots of plastic waste around the world. We need way more people recycling and R&D on other plastic types. The community needs to grow. I have provided a detailed overview of all the current problems we have, how it got to this point and whats next. It's all summarized in this video: https://lnkd.in/eiyMeZFU And you can read more detail here: https://lnkd.in/epWZwd_2 If enough action is taken we can move forward and will share a more detailed plan for Version 5. If not, we are willing to accept that the project will just die. We will keep you posted with updates. Thank you community Dave

We are excited to announce the launch of the Shredder PRO by WEIMA Maschinenbau GmbH, a new machine in recycling technology developed in collaboration with Precious Plastic. It is designed to enhance recycling efforts, making them more efficient for users worldwide. WEIMA is a German manufacturer specialised in industrial shredding machines. Founded in 1980, the company has established itself as a global leader in waste processing technology. They have been doing it for many years and are now sharing their knowledge. Open-Source. Precious Plastic style :) The Shredder PRO combines industrial-grade shredding power with a user-friendly design. Key features include: - Quick maintenance: The machine allows for rapid cleaning and swapping of sieves, with disassembly and reassembly taking only up to 30 minutes. - High capacity: Capable of shredding up to 100 kg/hour, it is ideal for medium-scale operations. - Safety compliance: meets European safety standards and is designed for easy certification. - With its wide hopper and overload protection, it ensures safe operation while handling larger items. For those interested in seeing the Shredder PRO in action, we invite you to watch our promotional video on YouTube, showcasing its capabilities and innovative features. https://lnkd.in/dYUqMXQZ

All of this started in a small room at Niyazi's house 😍 4 years later P-Lab is a local recycling centre created by 5 wonderful individuals based in İstanbul, Turkey, spreading awareness about plastics and plastic waste. They collect and clean plastic waste, and use Precious Plastic small-scale recycling machines to produce their products. The plastic comes mostly from local communities, schools and P-Lab team's friends 🙌 In addition to the recycling machines, Niyazi and the team use 3D printer and a pet bottle recycling machine. They are testing how recycled pet works in the 3D printer hoping to set up a whole line for PET recycled filament in the future. P-Lab works mostly on B2B projects, and collaborates with other projects. "We've done successful workshops with companies and public institutions - told us Niyazi. - "Currently, we're working on a batch order for Mercedes-Benz Turkey for their dealerships" 🔥

5 000 students in Australia are getting environmental education this year! All thanks to Reshaping Waste - Precious Plastic-inspired project by Pittwater Eco Adventures based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney 🇦🇺 "We’ve collaborated with the best in the business (Precious Plastic Melbourne, Sustainable Design Studio, RP Processing - Easymoulds and Plastmakers) to create a completely mobile recycling workshop van that enables us to run in-school and beachside events" - told us Katie from Reshaping Waste. "12 months after we began the project, and after much refinement, we’re finally ready to launch our programs on a wider scale. Our goal is to educate 5,000 students this year, double what we achieved in 2023." Wish this happy small-scale recycling van a safe and impactful journey 🌴

"The idea of creating fishing lures from recycled plastic first occurred to me a few years ago" - told us Adam from Wayward Fishing based in Australia. - "This project is driven by my passion for fishing and the desire to ensure that future generations, including my son, can continue to enjoy it." After watching Precious Plastics videos showcasing our DIY injection machine, a lot of research, trial and error, Wayward Fishing was born with the goal of exploring innovative ways to craft fishing lures and rethinking the fishing practices. Wayward operates out of a garage in Adelaide, South Australia, utilizing a homemade pneumatic-powered injection machine, a resin 3D printer, and a few other tools. The injection machine was built with the assistance of Adam's father-in-law and inspired by and incorporates parts from the Buster Beagle 3D MKIII machine. Wayward uses resin 3D printing for prototyping molds before transitioning to aluminum once a design is finalized. In addition to being crafted from 100% recycled plastic, the lures are lead-free, a common component used for weighting traditional fishing lures. As an eco-friendly substitute the tungsten is molded into the lure during the injection process. The majority of his plastic waste is currently sourced from Precious Plastic Melbourne. Wayward Fishing lures have already reached every Australian state and territory, as well as international destinations such as New Zealand, Fiji, the United States, Canada, Spain, and Barbados. "The overwhelming support for this project recently pushed us past the milestone of recycling over 10kg of plastic and I cannot thank the fishing community enough" - Adam 💛

"The idea of creating fishing lures from recycled plastic first occurred to me a few years ago" - told us Adam from Wayward Fishing based in Australia. - "This project is driven by my passion for fishing and the desire to ensure that future generations, including my son, can continue to enjoy it." After watching Precious Plastics videos showcasing our DIY injection machine, a lot of research, trial and error, Wayward Fishing was born with the goal of exploring innovative ways to craft fishing lures and rethinking the fishing practices. Wayward operates out of a garage in Adelaide, South Australia, utilizing a homemade pneumatic-powered injection machine, a resin 3D printer, and a few other tools. The injection machine was built with the assistance of Adam's father-in-law and inspired by and incorporates parts from the Buster Beagle 3D MKIII machine. Wayward uses resin 3D printing for prototyping molds before transitioning to aluminum once a design is finalized. In addition to being crafted from 100% recycled plastic, the lures are lead-free, a common component used for weighting traditional fishing lures. As an eco-friendly substitute the tungsten is molded into the lure during the injection process. The majority of his plastic waste is currently sourced from Precious Plastic Melbourne. Wayward Fishing lures have already reached every Australian state and territory, as well as international destinations such as New Zealand, Fiji, the United States, Canada, Spain, and Barbados. "The overwhelming support for this project recently pushed us past the milestone of recycling over 10kg of plastic and I cannot thank the fishing community enough" - Adam 💛

What price does the Everest region pay for being home to the Earth's highest mountain? Well, this time the price is not about money, but waste. With hundreds of thousands of tourists per year in a remote valley, you can imagine the difficulties of waste management. High altitude, cold temperatures, extreme weather conditions make every step of the waste collection, treatment and processing a challenge ⛰️ Yet there are people who dare to do it! And they do it in the most engaging, collaborative way - inviting everyone to join them. Every mountain lover should watch our latest YouTube video to get to know Sagarmatha Next and Moware organisations that every day fight for cleaner Himalayas ❤️ Discover how the waste from the top of the world travels to the small-scale recycling centre in Kathmandu, where it's turned into most meaningful souvenirs, and how you can help to protect our highest mountains 👇

Why would someone call a stool "1300 Stool"? 🤔 The 1300 Stool is an assembly stool made from 1300 bottle caps from Jeju Island. It geometricize the pristine beauty of Jeju, with its design inspired by the island's topography and the iconic mountain, Hallasan. Reer Plastic has reinterpreted the shape of Jeju Island using their unique approach. The team operates on the small island of Jeju in South Korea, creating new value solely from the plastic discarded on Jeju 🇰🇷 The multi-color version attempted this time naturally combines colors through the collection of fragments and defective pieces generated during the production process of reer Plastic's existing products. Beyond a mere aesthetic approach, the 1300 Stool aims to contemplate the environmental issues of Jeju Island by representing the island solely using the waste it produce 🙏

Recycled cafeteria in your office - hot or not? Well, some have their coffee breaks cooler than the others! ☕️ This coffee station and tables were made by Necológica for employees working in offices of BBVA Tower in Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 To make this project happen, 368 kg of white HPDE waste was recycled! 🙌