turtle - inspiration of the recycling machine

Shruder Recycling Machine To Fight Off Plastic Pollution ⚙️

by Ian Guenn Tayao

Recycling Machines ⚙️: Let me start off by saying I love this job that I have now. Why do I say this? Well, first of all, I make a small yet significant impact on other people by cleaning up the environment. Additionally, I bring to you readers relevant news – good or bad – that can help make people more aware. Today, I bring to you some good news.

A while back, ABC News reported on a certain machine that has the capabilities to shred marine plastic waste and transform them into usable items. This fairly-recent invention heavily attracted international interest – even from the Prince Charles of the UK, the heir apparent to the British throne.

It’s not every day that inventions get to impress the heir apparent to the British throne. But a machine that deals with plastic waste from the ocean certainly did. Let’s see what all of this is about.

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A bit about Waster

Before we continue our topic on recycling machines, let me share with you more information about Waster.

We here at Waster provide you with innovative solutions for you and your business’s waste management and recycling needs. Furthermore, we provide flexible, 30-day contracts instead of the typical lock-in contracts, which proves to be better.

Click on the blue button to learn more.

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READ: Wildlife Protected Area 🦘

What is this plastic recycling machine?

Plastic pollution has long been an environmental problem in all parts of the world. Each year, an estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean. As a result, researchers predict that there will be more plastic than fish come 2050.

For this reason, environmental advocates have been coming up with ways to counter this. A way we can counter plastic pollution is to utilise the available technology that we have today. This involves different kinds of gadgets and machines that can help minimise waste. One example blog I can share with you is my blog titled “drones in waste management“. Read it when you have the time!

One recycling machine that I heard about really piqued my interest. That recycling machine is called the Shruder. Let me discuss it with you in the following sections.

What is the Shruder recycling machine?

You might be wondering what the Shruder – seeing it in the title and all – is and what it does. Let me explain it to you. Combining the words “shredder” and “extruder”, it is a portable, lightweight recycling machine that shreds single-use plastics such as bottles and containers. It turns the processed plastic into reusable extrusion materials or filament for things like weaving etc. Invented by the company Plastic Collective in Australia, paired up with Starboard in Thailand, its inspiration was from a turtle dying due to so much consumed plastic. Let me elaborate further.

Louise Hardman, the founder and current CEO of Plastic Collective, joined a marine tagging program on the NSW coast when she discovered a sick turtle that accidentally ate plastic irresponsibly thrown in the sea. Even with the extensive treatment it received, the turtle, unfortunately, died 3 days later. This happened 25 years ago. And this is the turning point that made Hardman vow to get rid of ocean plastic.

We did an autopsy on it and found that 30 different types of plastic were stuck in its entire digestive system, and that’s what it died from — it actually starved to death.

Thus came Shruder.

Offsetting plastic

I have always been fascinated with the idea of offsetting. Funding a program dedicated to bettering the environment, sounds good, right? One example is carbon offsetting. It has its good and bad points, I agree, but its upsides are something to marvel at. In saying this, it has become a solution to a minor problem.

Mind you, the Shruder recycling machine is a luxury many companies and organisations cannot afford to get. For context, one of these plastic bottle and packaging recycling machines costs about 25,000 dollars. But that is not all, you also have to factor in the machine’s maintenance, which in turn costs about 10,000 dollars every year.

This is where offsetting comes to play. Plastic Collective orchestrated its own Plastic Neutral Program as a way to counter this. Companies who use plastic in their operations have the choice to fund Hardman’s, along with Plastic Collective’s, efforts to fight off the absurd plastic waste the world faces today. It helps in its effort to deliver and operate the aforementioned recycling machine, therefore offsetting its own produced plastic waste. An instance provided by Eco-Business states:

A company which sells about 19.5 million plastic bags a month—a figure that large national retail chains may easily hit—this equates to about 10 tonnes of plastic use.

Furthermore, one Shruder recovers about 1 tonne of plastic in a month. So, when a plastic-using company decides to fund 10 Shruder recycling machines, this results in them offsetting their whole plastic footprint “while also creating jobs in remote areas and help stop plastic waste”.

The latest news on the recycling machine

Before we continue with the blog, have you heard of Waster’s partnership with Greenfleet? If not, read all about it here and find out how little it costs to get carbon neutral waste services.

With that being said, we now take a look at the latest news on Shruder. Don’t worry, it is quite a good news, too. Louise Hardman, along with Plastic Collective, has been granted 2.49 million dollars to further boost the already extensive work that they do to fight off the plastic waste phenomenon we experience today. Furthermore, the granted money will be used to help in upgrading the Shruder recycling machine.

“The entire plan was to provide these recycling units to every single island in the Asia-Pacific region,” as stated by Ms Hardman.

“There are over 4,000 islands out of 55,000 that are inhabited in this region, and if you add up the number of people on those islands, there are 370 million people.”

“Plus there’s the remote and regional communities within Australia that need support.”

Recycling machines: conclusion

After reading this, what do you think? Sounds good, right? Well, it is! We all know the adverse effects plastic does on the environment, so we should make sure to support any movement – such as Plastic Collective’s Shruder – that aims to create a more sustainable environment.