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Dave Hakkens presents… recycling plastic at home

The Netherlands – Dutch designer Dave Hakkens and inventor of the Phonebloks modular phone has created open-source blueprints for a series of do-it-yourself ‘€œPrecious Plastic’€ recycling machines. The idea behind the equipment is that anyone can build and use them to make products from plastic waste.The recycling line includes a plastic shredder, an extruder, an injection moulder and a rotation moulder. Interestingly, Hakkens notes the devices are made using everyday materials and basic tools that are ‘€˜available all over the world’€™ so as to maximise the recycling effect.
The young entrepreneur first showcased prototypes of the recycling machines at the Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show in 2013. He has since refined them and was eager to share his blueprints online ‘€“ to be downloaded for free ‘€“ so others might become ‘€˜a craftsman of plastic’€™ and maybe even launch their own recycling business.
Hakkens himself has used the Precious Plastic machines to create chopping boards, bowls, clipboards and plant pots that feature a distinctive mottled pattern of colours.
He urges that a sustainable solution to plastic waste is necessary to tackle the 311 million tonnes of plastic waste created around the world each year. He estimates that less than 10% is currently recycled, instead ending up in ‘€˜the wrong place’€™ like landfills and oceans.

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