Precious Plastic Latvia

[rudolfsskuja]

Great inspiration to this topic from @jegor-m
This topic will include our progress with the Precious Plastic project.
More about us-
Facebook
[https://www.instagram.com/preciousplasticlv/?hl=en

](https://www.instagram.com/preciousplasticlv/?hl=en)BAZAR shop
Support us on Patreon
We started researching and building 2017 (starting first with scientific research in grade 10)
Follow us to see our journey.
Will post weekly/monthly updates.
Thanks to  @davehakkens and the team for giving us the opportunity to help the environment in never seen form before.
Feel free to give advice and correct us!

[rudolfsskuja]

(a slight recap)
June 2019
Started working on Yenga block mould for the Injection machine.
We got high quality 13,5 x 4,5 x 2 cm blocks. One block weight about 100g.
This month we started working on our sheet press system – first with the cold press and then with the oven framework.
Next we tried to make a mould for hair comb, but it didn’t go to plan – the comb was too thick so we paused making precise and complicated mould for the injection machine.
We made our first try making actual plastic bricks using wood for the mould.
Also this month we listed our products in BAZAR-  https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/en/yonhang123
June we tried to host our first workshop – kite making workshop. _People loved it!
This months craziest idea
_– extruded PP thread in a hot glue gun ( it sort of worked)
Want to see more?
Check our social sites for more photos!
Upcoming update – website in making?

[rudolfsskuja]

October 2019

This month we primarily worked on the leg-powered shredder and finally got it to work fine. Did a lot of testing trying to figure out the capacity and strength of our shredder. Came to conclusion that there needs to be work done on the chain and tension because with a lot of vibrations the chain jumps off. Our shredder can shred up to 5ish mm and has capacity of 1.5kg per hour (if the one who cycles isn’t tired).

The next big thing – the coffee pods. We shredded them really finely and had amazing sheets pressed with our cold press. Made few samples and they looked like some kind of ocean scenery. We finally figured out the next best way how to clean the coffee pods. We cut off the eadges and then took off the silicone washer and poked out the coffee with the plastic filter inside the pod. We will have a video on that as well (maybe?).

We had many more attempts of making flower pots and the 12th was the lucky one. After welding and polishing the mould we finally got a good flower pot made from LDPE (plastic pool balls and shopping bags). We tried out melting PP, but we like LDPE and HDPE lot more… Overrall, we made and remelted 16 flower pots. Each weights about 480g.

This month we started filming how we do stuff in our workshop. You can see in the photos how we filmed everything…ghetto style.
Our YouTube channel check it out! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX1l7oKRxU54umpcqtLmcsg?view_as=subscriber

This month we made 2 new products – candle holders and earrings made from plastic bags. ( you can see a video on how we made them on YouTube.) We used the leftover plastic shavings from candle holders to make the earrings.

We had a blog interview with Daniela Studente (it’s in latvian) about our project with Precious Plastic and what have we acheaved. https://www.nepiemeslot.com/post/tavi-atkritumi-paties%C4%ABb%C4%81-ir-br%C4%ABni%C5%A1%C4%B7%C4%ABgs-n%C4%81kotnes-resurss-ko-var-izmantot-%C4%BCoti-noder%C4%ABgi

We have our website published ( wix free version). We would like to have some feedback from you! https://preciousplasticlv.wixsite.com/preciousplasticlv

This time we made a Photos link of the photos to see. If you want to see more then go check out our Patreon and social media! https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jew98nRhWuZB5PRT7

This months big question is to @davehakkens and overall Precious Plastic community – How can a Precious Plastic workshop LEGALLY melt and use plastic/general waste for production? We had a lot of problems discussing this topic and still don’t have the answe. We are working on the permit of polluting machine operation and waste storing/reycling. Does anyone else can help? @jegor-m @mattia-io

We listed some new products on bazar.
Check it out – https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/en/yonhang123

This months crazy idea – filming videos for YouTube (not that crazy afterall)

Want to see more?

Follow us on social media and support us on Patreon to make us keep going!

Upcoming update – many more turorial videos (plastic bag wallet, shredding compilation and more) We are also thinking of renaming Precious Plastic Latvia and changing the design of  our logo to something simpler. maybe…

[rudolfsskuja]

More photos for september 2019

[rudolfsskuja]

September 2019
This month is big sheet press update. We revisited the large sheet press and changed the dimensions, now it’s capacity is 1,1m X 1,1m with 8T load. Made the first “Dry fit” for the press.

Made a really heavy duty pressing platform. Made use of old metal tubes ~4mm, cut them so that they can fit on the corner of the base of sheet press. Drilled a lot of 17mm holes and used old car screws for assembly.

Then we had a huuuge plastic ball delivery about 20 bags full of them.

Besides Precious Plastic work, we tried out pyrolysis with a large metal tube. It can fit about 2,500cm3 of waste non-recyclable plastic, it’s trown in the central heating system and it has a potential of being a source of heat. But it should be heated in no oxygen environment, so the tube should be filled with co2.

Working on 2 projects now.

1. One of which we are working with Illy recycable coffee pods.

For this we are working on a tool to cut the plastic pods open and compost the used coffee. But the problem with these pods is that, they have a paper filter, that is glued on the one end.

We have an idea to solve this problem – we will cut open the pods, take out the coffee and shred the plastic and then wash the shredded material to get rid of the paper filter.

2. Recycled plastic flower pots as a request. We had a lazercut mould for this job.

We didn’t have a lot of luck, the plastic stucked in the mould. And when using the mini cold press, it didn’t press enough the plastic to flow through the mould. Then the press exploded, well at least the pressing mechanism popped out of place. But now we know the process. The flower pot will be about 480g.

We made progress with the leg-powered shredder. We have progress. It works! Sort of… We need to work on the chain tension.

We upgraded our mini cold press. Making it bigger and now it has a working hight of 50cm and has a 2T hydraulic car jack.

If you want to see more and want to support us with donation on patreon –

We listed some new products on bazar.
Check it out – https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/en/yonhang123

This months crazy idea – mega pyrolysis chamber ( that we actually did do)

Want to see more?

Follow us on social media

Upcoming update – blog interview and the lauch of the website.

[stardust]

@rudolfsskuja, thanks for the updates. This looks interesting. Would be nice if you could add a little more text to the pictures I am sure there could be more win – win, for you and the reader. There are btw. also ‘online image merger’ tools in case you have a lot pictures to share.
thanks,
g

[rudolfsskuja]

(a slight recap)

**August 2019

**This month we finally cleaned our workshop. Made some new shelfs and moved the old ones.
Then we had an event at Ventspils where we made kites.
Then the upcoming days we were resting and the PID controllers arrived for the pizza oven build.
At the end of august we made a mini cold press that can be build without welding.
Then we prepared for an event at Kuldiga. This time we made a workshop were you could make a bicycle bag. We made primitive bottle cap bottons. We prepared for the event with new and updated wall clocks. Stunning!
We listed some new products on bazar.
Check it out – https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/en/yonhang123

This months crazy idea – PET jointery chair
**Want to see more?

**Follow us on social media and support us on patreon.
Upcoming update- More progress on the sheet press and a website.

[marcvdv]

Love the idea of the jenga game!

 

Keep it up!
Marc

[rudolfsskuja]

More photos

[rudolfsskuja]

(a slight recap)

July 2019

This month we were getting ready for our workshop at Spikeri, Riga. We were making kites from plastic bags using an iron. There was a slight issue  – the kites didn’t fly or even lift of the ground. In the end, everything worked out. We were thinking of using extruded plastic sticks for the frame, but we went with bamboo sticks. Also there was a thought to use PET bottles to make as the rope, but our cutter continued to jam and it didn’t work.

We also talked about our journey with this project at the event. We met a lot of thoughtful people and talked to them more.

Then later in July we started thinking of making earrings from plastic and we bought the rings (still waiting for them). We are wating for them to arrive and then work on that idea more.

We put our sieve on the shredded and tried it out by shredding plastic balls – it worked well, but we could attach only one side of the sieve (miscalculations). We had our first Jenga table game bought – awesome! Then we had some passive time. We went to an old garage and got some new tools and materials.

We cleaned and moved things around our workshop to make more space and manage the space more efficiently.
This months crazy idea – Make the kites entirely out of plastic ( didn’t work out)__ 
Want to see more?_
Follow us on social media and support us on patreon.

_Upcoming update- Awesome workshop layout