final project

week 1

for my final project, i initially wanted to make a backpack that turns your daily plastic waste into plastic bricks

the idea is that you put plastic into it, some sort of mechism will be triggered, either heat press or pressure press the plastic into blocks, like how they do it in masterial recycling facilities.

week 2

standing on the shoulders of giants not the tones of giants

after conversations with Neil in class, i realized that i need to conduct more research on existing equipment that can help achieve these ambitions. specifically, i need to learn more about the size, power, weight, heat output, and other characteristics of such equipment. in particular, i explored the work of Precious Plastic, whose projects closely align with my interests. their plastic recycling process begins with shredding plastic, followed by categorizing the shredded pieces for reuse. This process is broken down into molding, extrusion, and heat pressing, with the final products including plastic blocks, shapes, sheets, and more.

i also looked into a company called ByFusion, whose Micro Diversion Platform (MDP) can convert all types of plastic waste into a high-performing, advanced building material called ByBlock. their specific process is not disclosed, but their

after examining their work, the question I wish to explore is

is it possible to make the process less industrial and more accessible?

can plastic recycling be done on a scale manageable by an individual? portable even?

i plan to start by making a small shredder machine to understand the mechanism

i plan to make the shredder blades with 1/4" aluminum sheets because aluminum is more affordable and malleable enough for milling. when I tried to source some aluminum sheets for the shredder blades, i reached out to TAs Leo and Neil, who recommended asking suppliers for off-cuts from larger jobs. i contacted several suppliers but didn’t hear back

my online research indicates that the prices for aluminum sheets are slightly over my budget. in addition to the blades, i also need rods, motors, and frames, which could add up to a significant amount

therefore, i have decided to change my final project