13 December 2019

New life for plastic waste

Reducing and recycling the growing mountain of plastic waste: this is the aim of the students behind the Precious Plastic Maastricht initiative, in collaboration with Maastricht residents. Precious Plastic recently found a partner in the Werkhuis Maastricht Noordoost, a collection of creative workshops and studios. Together they built a shredder to crush plastic so it can be reused in a new form.

Injection machine

Willy enjoyed working with the students. “I had to get used to speaking English again, but I managed.” With the shredder now complete, he and his colleagues have returned to their work on an injection machine. “We’ll be able to use that to make new, sustainable products from the plastic that comes out of the shredder”, Emma explains. What these products will be is not yet entirely clear. Precious Plastic is looking to other countries for ideas devised by the global community established to boost plastic recycling. “There are plenty of options, from art to everyday implements. But in any event, you need a mould – perhaps that’s something we can collaborate on with designers.”

Demonstrations

The ultimate goal is to raise awareness in Maastricht of the growing pile of plastic waste. “You can ship it abroad,” Emma says, “but if you keep it here, at least you know what happens to it. We want to give demonstrations in schools and elsewhere of the kinds of things that are possible using the shredder. And when the injection machine is ready, we’ll ask people to bring their plastic to us for recycling. By that time we need to know what we want to make.”

By: Meyke Houben (text)