Current Phase

Our current phase is the establishment of a pilot facility in Manila, Philippines. This pilot facility will house a sorting area, shredding machine, and a washing area. The drying area of the facility will likely be implemented at a later date once a more permanent system is established. There are two main proposed locations for this pilot facility: 1) Vacant MRF space in a barangay 2) On the campus of the University of the Philippines – Diliman. Both proposals are being looked at, and one will need to be chosen in the coming weeks.

As of now, a shredder has been chosen from Resiklo Machinery Company that will be used to shred any post-consumer plastic brought to the facility. A washing system using buckets and sticks has also been proven effective, using a turbidimeter to measure the turbidity of the water after going through a washing process. This turbidimeter showed that for each test, a substantial amount of dirt was removed from the plastic, making the water more dirty.

Future Developments

After the development of a drying process is done, research will slow to analyze the current pilot facility, and allow for the team to micromanage the facility a little more. This will show the team anything that may need to be improved in the facility, and if the facility is making a profit. Following this, research will be put into further improving our product, and adding value to plastic.

Pelletization

The first step to improving our product is expanding to pelletization. Pelletization is the process of transforming the shredded pieces of cleaned plastic into small ball shaped pieces. Turning the shredded plastic into more uniform shapes and sizes allows for a higher value product that is used in many different industries. Therefore, not only would PlasTech be expanding its buyer network, butted also be increasing the revenue made off of plastic waste.

Extrusion

The final step PlasTech wants to include in PlasTech facilities is plastic extrusion. Extruding is the process by which plastic pellets are melted, and then made into a product using molds. PlasTech has done previous research with extruding, but more extensive research needs to be completed before it’s time to begin the commercial selling of extruded products. One idea that PlasTech has been looking into is making plastic bricks, therefore locking up plastic for years to come, and providing bricks that can be used to help with the housing crisis in the Philippines. Our dream is to be able to take in plastic waste, and transform it into a high-value extruded product all under one roof inside a mini recycling facility. We believe this dream as time goes on is getting closer to becoming a reality.

Machinery and Mold Progress

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The PlasTech team initially worked with a lab scale melter setup shown above.

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The team then moved to scale up the model and created a larger prototype of the melter setup.

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While scaling up the melter, the team also worked to create an extruder shown above and ultimately decided that the extruder manufacturing process will fit best with PlasTech’s needs.

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PlasTech has also been creating various mold designs and validating which will work best with our structural and material needs. On the left is a Lego brick shape, the middle is an H brick shape and the right displays another brick option. We also created a tetris-like brick design as another option that could lock into place. The team has focused on fabricating designs that do not require a connecting agent, such as mortar, have few differing parts, and allow interchangeability between side and corner pieces. We will continue looking at brick designs in order to determine the best path forward for our structure.