Teaching the 3 Rs

As soon as I wrote that title I realized I would have to differentiate from what I mean and Reading, 'ritin and 'rithmatic version of the 3 Rs.  I am talking about the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle version.  No this is not going to be a change your whole to life to no plastics and no fossil fuel consumption or we are all going to die talk.  While I don't give in to the hysteria doom and gloom viewpoints of some, I do believe in a reasonable attempt to reduce our impact on the planet.  I also believe more in the follow my example approach to things than do what I say approach.  With that in mind, many of you are familiar with my previous blogs about storing things in which I reuse as many waste products as I can.  I will cover the reuse portion later in the blog.  Right now I want to talk about the fun I have been having learning to recycle plastic using some very rudimentary tools.

The above is a heart shaped future necklace or bracelet charm made completely from recycled PET or #1 plastic.  This is the part of the water/soda bottle that is the bottle.  It is often clear and flimsy.  This turned out to be the hardest to recycle to date and I am still experimenting to get something easier to produce that is nicer looking.

I had to start with collecting the bottles.  This is easier than when I did it to reuse them as bricks in construction.  That collection had to be all the same size bottles and all in decent condition.  This time any plastic bottle that was a 1 inside the recycle triangle would do and it could have been crushed, dirty reused until it was worthless (sort of).  After that I had to remove the labels, bottle caps and the retainer ring of the cap.  I decided to cut them up into small pieces (relatively) before I washed them.  Next time I will try the other way to see which is better, but I think this was the right choice.

cut off the ends which are harder plastic and therefore difficult to cut up.  

Remove the caps and retainer rings

go buy a better pair of scissors 

Reusing a container to store the bottles I cut up.  This is about 15 bottles.

I used a baking sheet under the plastic to keep it from sticking to my pan.  This technically worked but the paper stuck to the plastic.  More on this in a second.

While most of the videos on YouTube about melting plastic bottles is actually about melting the bottle caps which are actually the #2 plastic or HDPE.  The big difference is in the melting process.  #1 or PET plastic needs to get up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit before it starts to melt.  This exceeds the baking paper heat level and it starts to break down which is why it stuck to the plastic.  The other big  problem with the PET is that I could not cool it down slowly enough to prevent it from becoming brittle.  Basically the exterior would cool quicker than the middle creating stresses internally that makes it crack.

trying to cool it down slowly

What it looked like during the melting process

when I pulled it out.  You can see it is already starting to cool  and harden in some areas (the lighter color)

I tried to keep it hot one time and then use a rolling pin to flaten it out hoping a thinner piece would cool more evenly but it did not work 

This is the first solid piece I was able to get unfortunately when I tried to break it I did.

One side was at least nice and smooth

However it still broke along stress lines.

So I have learned I need to work PET or the bottle part in some thinner sheets.  I did try it with a small heart shaped silicone mold I use to melt down old crayon pieces in.  Unfortunately for that attempt I should have remembered the melting temp for PET is also the upper temperature limit of silicone baking molds.

After the PET limited success, I switched to the HDPE or #2 plastic which is mostly lids on water/soda bottles but also shampoo bottles and some oil bottles.  It is also the plastic the large plastic coffee containers are made from but those are better being reused.  HDPE turns soft at around 300 degrees Fahrenheit and if you keep at the lower temperatures it does not break down fumes are not an issues.  This also means I get to use the baking sheets.  It also does not become brittle when cooling off and becoming solid again.

First layer melted down at 285 degrees in around 20 minutes

Added next layer and then a third layer before it was thick enough for the project I had in mind.

The HDPE did very nicely in the melting process.  Three layers completely melted down was just over 1 hour of time. It was easily removed.  I did have to trim some edges with a knife but that was easy also.

After all three layers have melted I took it out, added another baking sheet to the top and a matching pan to clamp it down and compress the melted plastic to get out as much air bubbles as possible.

Both sides of the small panel.  It would be smoother without the baking sheets.  You can really see the two peanut butter jar lids that are so big.

Now why did I make this.  We had a seat on the see saw break-cheap wood lined up the wrong way (cheap wood is all that is available here despite what it costs and yes I am a wood and steel snob sometimes but I like things that work).  So off to install it on the see saw.  Fortunately (the only time I got to use this version of that word in the blog) it fit over the two pieces of metal and four bolt holes nicely even if it was a little small.

It is very strong.  I tried to break it with a hammer and could not.  Teacher Mvungi however had to give it the weight test.  They were not sure what to make of this actually recycling something.

Always try to collect your drill shavings as they can be remelted and used.  Overall not a bad project.  And when I get the wood seat repaired (some wood glue and a couple of weeks to make a brace on the bottom side) I can reuse all the plastic to make other things or cut the piece I am using into another shape I may need.

I did mention that you should always try to reuse things before recycle process.  This is because the recycle process requires resources like heat from a fire and baking sheets that may need to be discarded so the process is not as environmentally friendly as simply reusing something without making any real changes.