Plastic waste is becoming a scourge of the earth.
Lack of recycling has led to massive islands being created in the ocean made of plastic.
Containers, bags, soda holders and all other types of plastic get wrapped around sea life
or ingested leading to their demise.
A few individuals though have taking it upon themselves to create machines and processes
to create something useful from waste plastic.
On this episode we take a look at 6 roof and pavement tiles made from plastic waste.
Coming in at number 6 in Roman’s facility they use a full array of plastic waste to
create their products.
The first step is to use a shredder, which they have multiple different ones for different
applications.
Plastic is throw in the top and comes out shredded to bits in the bottom.
The plastic is shredded which allows it to be melted easier and faster.
In his facility they mix the shredded plastic with sand and a dye for the desired color.
Once the sand and plastic is mixed together thoroughly it is added to the melting machine.
On the other side is what looks like a big blob of elephant dung which is weighed to
1.5 kgs.
This blob than added to the press table.
A hydraulic press compacts and heats it at the same time creating the new plastic tile.
It takes 100 lbs of force to compress the tile and takes about 40 seconds for it to
cool.
After a little bit of trimming the tile is completed.
Roman has been recycling plastic and creating these products since 2003.
This Russian citizen cares deeply about the environment and has become a pioneer in the
field.
Here we see the finished result is strong enough to endure the sand delivery truck driving
over the tiles that have been there for multiple years now.
Roman and his team produce multiple different styles and colors of tiles for the ground
and roof.
Coming in at number 5, this recycler of plastic also uses a mixture of sand and plastic to
create tiles.
Here you can see a glob of fresh hot plastic is tossed into the hydraulic press, while
that is working more oozing plastic goo comes out of the machine for the next tile.
After a minute the press is released and not a floor tile but a roof tile is created.
This rotating disc machine that holds the tiles called the calibrator I’m assuming
presses and holds the tiles tight so their shape is maintained until they have fully
cooled down otherwise they won’t stack nicely on the roof.
After the cycle is complete the tile is popped and is ready to be put on a roof.
Fourth on this list is this big blue machine or thee plastic digester.
Shredded plastic is dumped in the top and crushed rock is mixed in along the side at
the same time.
Luckily this machine has an exhaust treatment phase which can’t be said for all of these
machines sadly as many of them are used developing countries.
The long blue piston presses the mix together resulting is this black oozing hot plastic
rock mix.
While still hot is it pressed into a mold and left to dry.
A variety of different colors and shapes are
available from this company.
3rd on this list is another facility that uses a mix of sand and plastic.
At this facility they stress the use of river sand to properly bond with the plastic.
The plastics they take come from all sources: car radios, gas cans, car bumpers, computer
cases virtually anything.
First the sand is dried out or the moisture will affect the process.
After a quick spin in a mixer the dried material is added to their furnace.
It takes incredible amount amounts of heat to melt high density polymer which is an advantage
because after the tiles are made they won’t be able to be melted by a scorching hot summer’s
day.
2 minutes in their hydraulic press is all it takes before the tiles are ready to be
cooled for another 2 minutes.
After they are cooled they’ll be taken to the trimming area.
Small extra bits and imperfections on the outer rim of the roof tiles are cut off with
a knife and the tile is ready to be used.
Each tile weighs almost 5 lbs or 2.2 kgs.
Here you can see the durability of them as the boss man jumps up and down on it.
These tiles are fire retardant and are poor conductors of heat not allowing a fire to
travel through them.
They also don’t hold water and being very smooth reduces the likelihood of algae and
fungus from growing on them.
This concept came from South Africa and has been tested for a dozen years now in Uganda.
Any waste plastic created or globs of hot plastic that aren’t able to make it into
the press before they solidify are just recycled back to the beginning of the machine.
The final result are these beautiful roof tiles that would have likely been plastic
floating in the ocean.
At number 2 we have a more sophisticated machine that uses a mixture of shredded plastic and
used engine oil.
The two are mixed into this big drum and spun and heated for a short time.
On the other side is a goozy hot mess that comes out of a faucet.
No press is used here just gravity fed into the desired mold until full.
They are leveled off on the top much like what is done with wet concrete.
Being on the other side of the world as many of the others, this machine produces plastic
bricks in the city of Tarlac in the Philippines.
These bricks look highly convincing as conventional ones and come in a wide variety of shapes.
Coming in at number one is Wasteaid, a company that helps people turn waste into useful products.
This more primitive approach combines plastic bags and fine sand into a metal drum that
is heated with firewood.
This company only uses LDPE type plastic for their creations which melts in 20 minutes
in this metal barrel.
The liquid plastic must be continually stirred keeping the temperature below 185 fahrenheit
or 85 degrees celsius otherwise the plastic will burn, kind of like the same idea when
grandma is making a big pot of chili.
Sand is added in slowly until it has the same consistency as cement.
The mixture is pressed by hand into a mold and flattened off where it’ll solidify over
a few minutes time.
After 2 hours drying the brick is ready to be used.
Do inventions like this that help remove plastic from the environment to make useful product
give you hope for this ever looming global issue we are facing?
If you’re interested in starting one of these businesses of your own I’ve left links
to the companies videos below.
I hope you enjoyed this episode, until the next one, have a good one.