Plastic recycling Mini-line

This project is a student startup.

Modern methods and scale of recycling do not cope with ensuring the environmental safety of nature and humans from the harmful effects of plastic waste. It is necessary to consider an alternative strategy to combat this environmental threat, using the example of organizing the processing of plastic waste directly in the places of their formation.

VKTU has developed a mini-plastic recycling line for small volumes of waste directly at the place of their formation.

The recommendations and schemes made can be applied in other universities, enterprises, and around the world.

At the moment, the equipment of the mini-line is a trade secret of our university.

According to approximate data, the volume of accumulated plastic garbage at the university is about 6.4 m³ per month. Its composition mainly includes plastic bottles (PET and HDPE), disposable plastic cups (PS and PP) and all kinds of films, bags and plastic packaging (LDPE). In addition, periodically there may be a need to get rid of the cases of old or broken office equipment (ABS plastic). All of the above plastic waste is successfully processed, including by mechanical means.

In view of the lack of ready-made analogues of equipment for processing plastic in the necessary, in this case, small volumes of plastic, it is proposed to design our own devices, using as a basis the developments of the international project "Preciousplastic". As described earlier, the concepts of these machines are easily amenable to modification and point adjustment to the necessary conditions. The production of such devices will cost much cheaper than purchased industrial giants, whose operational losses, given the insufficient amount of raw materials for continuous operation, will also be higher.

The university has its own small production facility for processing plastic waste, which will also stimulate research activities. Thanks to this, many topics related to waste recycling and their further use will become more accessible for study. One of such works, for example, may be devoted to the implementation of poly-sanded products at the EKTU on the basis of a Training and production plant. This material is a hot mixture of molten plastic and sand.

In 2022 the project participates in the startup competition Grintech Skolkovo.

At the moment, a shredder for plastic waste has already been launched. An experiment on their decomposition by the method of vermiculturation was successfully carried out