Open-Source Recycling • Hacker News Board

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#31

Post by hosh » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

aznpwnzor wrote: post #28

Someone who knows more should prove me wrong, but... Intuitively shouldn't a dedicated plant's machinery have much higher efficiency? Coupling that with the biggest problems of recycling being the combined energy costs of transportation and processing, this seems to not solve anything? It kind of solves only one leg of the transportation, but the final recycled plastic will still need to be transported. That's again…

I think we'll find something more interesting if:

- The outputs of this recycling tech can be fed into personal fabrication tech (3D printers, etc.)

- Power generation is decentralized (solar, etc.)

It's part of a set of tech that would allow for the localization of manufacturing, closing the whole lifecycle locally. This in turn brings things back to the community. It's not always about total energy efficiency.

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#32

Post by hosh » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

pingec wrote: post #3

A positive thing for sure. But the hardest part is not the processing, it`s the sorting of different types of plastic and the washing phase if required.

Right, and that is also why I am very interested in AI that can do sorting of this kind. There are probably several component tech:

- Vision and/or tactile pattern recognition (deep neural nets). Maybe chemical sensors

- Robotic gripping and sorting. This one will be harder. Amazon and other logistics companies are keen on solving this one.

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#33

Post by fgblanch » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 6:14 PM UTC

pingec wrote: post #3

A positive thing for sure. But the hardest part is not the processing, it`s the sorting of different types of plastic and the washing phase if required.

Maybe it is super naive approach, but what about sorting by the barcode of the product. A database could be created with the product barcode, parts, and plastic type for each part. Of course there could be still some parts with unknown origin that should be sorted by other methods but this could be a good improvement.

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#34

Post by wila » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:09 PM UTC

fake-name wrote: post #29

From http://preciousplastic.com/machines/ > You can make the molds completely yourself using CNC to mill the lathe or simply welding them. .... What? "mill the lathe"? I think they accidentally a word in there. >These lines can be used to make new raw material (3d printing filament), granulate, spinned around a mold or up to you to find new creative ways. > Well suited to make large and more solid objects, the oven i…

The people behind the project are Dutch, German, Mexican [0] and none of them -from what I could see- would normally speak English as their first language.

Why don't you send an email to point out the mistakes in their text? [1]

They might even appreciate it :)

[0] - http://preciousplastic.com/thanks/

[1] - http://preciousplastic.com/contact/

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#35

Post by bigbugbag » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:29 PM UTC

Fastidious wrote: post #25

Not everyone has the skills, nor the tools to do this. I love the idea, and wish someone would make the machines (or the entire kits to assemble at home). I would buy them!

As said in the intro video, ask the local handyman.

This is not out of reach, they managed to build those in Africa with whatever was available.

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#36

Post by bigbugbag » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 8:34 PM UTC

aznpwnzor wrote: post #28

Someone who knows more should prove me wrong, but... Intuitively shouldn't a dedicated plant's machinery have much higher efficiency? Coupling that with the biggest problems of recycling being the combined energy costs of transportation and processing, this seems to not solve anything? It kind of solves only one leg of the transportation, but the final recycled plastic will still need to be transported. That's again…

Well, those are not mutually exclusive.

Building a plastic recycling plant is out of reach for most of the people almost everywhere and requires industry while building those machines though requiring tools and skills is totally doable in a local workshop.

The precious plastic project allows a handful of individuals to a local operation. A village can be equipped with those machines and beyond picking the local plastic waste and reusing it, it also offers the possibility to not throw the waste away.

Here we have recycling plants, but it seems no one actually knows how they're operated, what they actually recycle from what is burned or buried and there are no obvious resulting products. What we do know is that they are expensive, financed by taxes and there are lots of constraints.

I'd rather have a place run by locals where I can get some new objects and material for a 3d printer.

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#37

Post by smellf » Thu, Apr 21, 2016, 12:40 AM UTC

hosh wrote: post #31

aznpwnzor wrote: post #28

Someone who knows more should prove me wrong, but... Intuitively shouldn't a dedicated plant's machinery have much higher efficiency? Coupling that with the biggest problems of recycling being the combined energy costs of transportation and processing, this seems to not solve anything? It kind of solves only one leg of the transportation, but the final recycled plastic will still need to be transported. That's again…

I think we'll find something more interesting if: - The outputs of this recycling tech can be fed into personal fabrication tech (3D printers, etc.) - Power generation is decentralized (solar, etc.) It's part of a set of tech that would allow for the localization of manufacturing, closing the whole lifecycle locally. This in turn brings things back to the community. It's not always about total energy efficiency.

> The outputs of this recycling tech can be fed into personal fabrication tech (3D printers, etc.)

I can:

http://preciousplastic.com/videos/build/extrusion/

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#38

Post by smellf » Thu, Apr 21, 2016, 1:11 AM UTC

I wonder if this project is based off the earlier Recyclebot? That was something I'd wanted to build for a long time.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12948

http://reprap.org/wiki/Recyclebot

http://www.appropedia.org/Recyclebot

Precious Plastic certainly looks further along though - and their instructions look to be higher quality, too.

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#39

Post by dzhiurgis » Thu, Apr 21, 2016, 1:37 AM UTC

rvense wrote: post #16

ZenoArrow wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use spectrometers to identify different types of plastic, e.g. http://www.thermoscientific.com/content/tfs/en/product/micro... Deep learning isn't required. The main challenge is in sorting. I'm not sure how you could do this efficiently with machines that are as affordable as the Precious Plastic designs.

Sorting all the plastic waste of a major city is very hard. Sorting your own or picking stuff out of a skip to gather enough to make a lampshade or a few coat hangers is probably more doable.

But how many hangers do you really need? I am sure we consume order of magnitude more single use containers than long term products.

Re: Open-Source Recycling

#40

Post by Joof » Thu, Apr 21, 2016, 2:15 AM UTC

aznpwnzor wrote: post #28

Someone who knows more should prove me wrong, but... Intuitively shouldn't a dedicated plant's machinery have much higher efficiency? Coupling that with the biggest problems of recycling being the combined energy costs of transportation and processing, this seems to not solve anything? It kind of solves only one leg of the transportation, but the final recycled plastic will still need to be transported. That's again…

Yes, but it's not all about processing efficiency. I'm sure lack of availability is mentioned, especially where there isn't money or population density

In the states, we could use it in a different way; to encourage community. If nobody recycles their goods, industrial processes can't help. Watching these machines and immediately building a new thing out of them really drives home the usefulness of recycling. It's 'cool' to watch and fun to do.

I grew up in Houston, Texas; some people recycled sometimes, but most people I knew (in affluent areas, so plenty of waste and education) just didn't care. My college apartment complex didn't have recycling at all despite a center within 10 minutes.

Our fathers mostly worked in oil / fossil fuels, where environmentalists block critical infrastructure for both good and inane reasons. (One inane example, a small town refused to allow an increase in the throughput of a natural gas pipe extending along a river; this put it at higher risk of explosion). People who recycle are the enemy; they are the guys preventing them from doing their jobs.

I want to build one of these with my dad and set it up so that the neighbors and their kids can come by, watch the plastic churn and have a new doodad to bring home. He would love it, they would love it (minus some terrified parents) and it would be a pretty great thing all around.