Last class, we had Adele from Precious Plastics Shanghai lead a workshop on upcycling plastic to make a stool. She first spoke about how Precious Plastics started in Shanghai, and how it has grown from a small scale organization to become a larger local community. One of the major parts of Precious Plastics Shanghai is that they take the community’s plastic waste and give it a new life by using various upcycling methods. During Adele’s lecture, we also learned about the different kinds of plastic and the specific qualities they have. We learned that type 1 plastic is the most commonly recycled plastic on a large scale, but that we can recycle types 2, 4, and 5 ourselves using the Precious Plastics’ methods. Their lab in Xinchejian has many kinds of machines for upcycling – a heat press, motor-powered shredder, an injection machine, and even a bike-powered shredder. Our re-maker space/lab also has heat presses and a motor-powered shredder, as well as an oven and hydraulic press.
Adele brought examples from Precious Plastic Shanghai’s plastic experiments, with variations in material form, heat, duration, texture, and molds. As we moved towards the demo portion of the workshop, she taught us how to sort, shred, and heat plastic. We began by sorting the various kinds of plastic that we brought to class, and the optimal type of plastic to use is type 2 because it has the most flexible melting range, and it also often comes in a variety of colors.
We then cut up type 2 plastic bottles and put them through the shredder. The resulting material was small plastic flakes that are easily melted. We used some pre-shredded plastic flakes to use as the material for the stool. The mold for the stool was a metal pan that we waxed down, and we filled it with plastic flakes and put it into the oven to melt at 180 degrees Celsius for over 30 minutes.
While the stool seat was “cooking”, we conducted another experiment with the plastic flakes using the heat presses. We sandwiched the flakes between two baking sheets – one set with matte sheets and one set with glossy sheets – and pressed them down for 10 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius. Since we removed the resulting plastic sheets too early, we were left with a wavy and not quite fully fused object. If we pressed them again and left them to cool, the result would be more uniform.
We were unable to complete the stool because of class time, but the way the in-progress stool seat looked was very interesting. There were pockets of unmelted plastic and air, so we left it inside the oven to melt more.
Response to Social Innovation in China
This presentation/reading by Collective Responsibility is an in-depth analysis of entrepreneurship that deals with social issues in China. China is an interesting country to look at because of its economic growth. Now as business in China moves towards trying to solve social problems and induce social change, it is crucial to look at what kinds of entrepreneurship works, and what potential problems could arise. My takeaway is that in order to make a long-lasting impact, making the effort to scale social innovations is the most important and most difficult part. Organizations in Shanghai that deal with upcycling, like Precious Plastics Shanghai and UseDem are both committed not only to the reach but to the scaleability of their respective business models.
Response to Multiple-Helix Collaboration for the Development of a Circular Economy
A circular economy is comprised of four components:
- Governments – which finance research and development, as well as fund universities and research institutes.
- Non-Governmental Organizations – which conduct additional research and development for projects that are outside of governmental interests.
- Consumers (Civic Society and the General Public) – who “vote” through purchase and can make or break a business model.
- Companies in the Public Sector – which run campaigns and spread information to impact consumers’ choices.
It is the cooperation and collaboration between these groups that lead to successful business and social impact. When applied to the Chinese economy, Precious Plastics Shanghai and UseDem fall under the category of NGO or small company respectively. While both organizations have a small consumer base already, it seems that there is governmental assistance – either financially or institutionally – in order for the circular economy to thrive.
I firmly believe that the government and larger companies in the public sector hold a lot of power in determining the economic and social trends, and it is imperative for consumers and smaller NGOs/companies to lead by example.
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