Taking plastics recycling up a peg

ALISTAIR HUGHES

Students at Golden Bay High School were given the opportunity to help turn waste plastic into useable clothes pegs, during a demonstration from local sustainability innovator Lawrence McIntyre last week.

His new recycling project’s two machines have been manufactured by Waitapu Engineering to a high specification, and company director Paul Whitaker was there to assist in the demonstration.

The first piece of equipment shreds clean, number five plastic containers into chips. They are then fed into the second device, which heats the plastic and injects it into a specially manufactured mould.

This circular metal caste has been engineered by a Dutch company called Precious Plastic; their long experience in product creation from recycled plastic allows them to produce it cost-effectively for Lawrence.

Once the still-hot mould is opened, the result is an eightspoked wheel of plastic clothes pegs, functional as well as attractively coloured in varying swirls of grey. Other colours can be produced, depending upon what is broken down at the start of the process. The entire process can be carried out in 10 minutes, and after the pegs have been twisted apart, any plastic left over can then be can “re-recycled” for the next batch.

Paul explains that Lawrence wanted the equipment to have transparent casings, so that kids could see the heating elements and temperature gauges inside. The machines are also designed to be useable by young people, only operable when safety chutes and lids are in place.

Helping convert the waste plastic into chips by feeding it into the shielded grinder proved to be very popular with the young audience. One volunteer’s question of whether cellphones could be recycled into pegs was met with enthusiastic support from his teacher, suggesting this could be the perfect solution to a persistent classroom distraction.

Lawrence was motivated by many parents’ apparent disinterest in recycling, despite the clear benefits and need to deal with our waste plastic. He believes that he can achieve more by focussing on the next generation at schools. He has organised drop-off points for waste plastic at the high school and Waitapu Engineering and hopes to share the machines around other Tasman schools, to create engagement. “The aim of the project is to encourage children to check their recycling and push their parents into doing it properly.”

Judging by the enthusiastic crowd they attracted at Golden Bay High School, he has successfully connected with his target audience.