funding precious plastic spaces
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Deas,
I don’t have a lot of time, but my salary is decent, so I would like to explore helping by funding one (or more) precious plastic makerspaces.
I don’t know how much they cost. I understand they depend a lot on the labour price. Therefore I would be looking at places with low labour costs.
I would also be looking at places where the Precious Plastic space is built in or near a garbage dump, for maximum impact.
Would you be so kind of sharing calculations of the cost of a Precious Plastic Space?
And to suggest teams that might be needing funding to create the space?
Thanks,
R.
I’m preparing a business plan here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v2XAgP_fJmx0_-IS46720IO8SzLUf3Tvg3DqNCURtS8/edit , set up costs will depend on the kind of space you have available. Machines alone I’d say between £4-8k.
If you’re thinking of becoming a donator/supporter, we accept donations on patreon or directly 🙂 if you’re thinking on getting a return on your investment and starting a profitable business, that’s interesting too!
Ciao
In the UK it’s possible to sell plastic to some of the big, well established waste companies. e.g. Biffa.
Investing in setting up a network of collection points might be a good first step. That way you have the raw material and can do whatever you want with it: Sell some, recycle some, experiment with developing product ideas. It also means you’re catching plastic that might otherwise end up going to landfill/watercourses/beaches, plus gives you the opportunity to gauge the types and quantities of plastic available. You can stock pile the material until you know how best to recycle it.
A lot of small companies think they are recycling their plastics, but actually the collection companies just burn it. This is a huge waste of resources. The embodied energy and carbon in plastic is huge, so burning it is the worst idea.
Hey there! I’m from Nepal. We are working on building Precious Plastic machine as well as Makerspace here in Kathmandu, Nepal. We’d love to get any kind of donations. If you’d like to talk more about this, let me know. Thanks for your helping efforts.
We are at the moment planing to set up a space here in the Philippines where plastic pollution is a huge issue. Doing a business plan and looking for space at the moment. We will be raising funds mainly from private businesses (csr…) in a few month. If you really wan’t to invest i can keep you updated on our progress step by step.
Would you share your Patreon page? That would be just as useful as your business plan.
Thanks!
Rebecca.
hi what if once i have my machines built and set up. i can start making then as a kit
(shredder,extruder,etc) and then it can be sold as a kit…
rafa, what a great way to help, honestly. Question: Have you considered (or maybe you’ve already done it) donating to Dave? I mean, to the original Precious Plastic proyect.
Why? Maybe he will be able to do greater things, and then we will all be able to get benefits from that donation. (p.e. a more efficient or quick V4 of Precious Plastic).
Once again, what a worthy way to help. Keep it Up.
I back up Precious Plastic via Patreon.
I checked with Dave about possible locations for funding and he suggested me to ask in the community, so here I am 🙂
I have started Precious Plastic Los Angeles and we are aiming to start with building one set of machines and then help others in Los Angeles build them as well. We have received enough donations to build the shredder machine and are about 75% complete thanks to a donation of the laser cut parts from Bioplastic Recycling and a donation of shop time from the LA Cleantech Incubator. We need to get funds to build the rest of the machines. Please reach out to me if you know anyone interested to donate or support.
We are currently setting up a PP workspace near Fort Portal in Uganda. I came here as a traveller a few month ago but couldn´t watch them burning all their waste on the Soil where they grow their vegetables, so i decided to start a project here. Since i already built a few PP machines at home in Austria I already had a bit of experience.
Right now we finished the Compression machine and the injection is in the making. Since its a pretty rural area I will bring my shredder from Austria here, just because its impossible to find a lasercutter here.
Our first Project is to make tiles out of plastic waste for the local church. Not for any religious reason, but just because like this we reach the whole community at once.
Until now i payed all by myself, but since I´m running out of funds Im searching for ways to keep the project going.
Our goal is to set up a self sufficient Workspace that produces products for the local market such as tiles, bricks, rooftiles, paving etc.
If you´re interested in our project, feel free to get back to me!
Emanuel Held
Hey Rafa still open for support?
The total cost for starting a workspace in India with cheap labour and lots of plastic would be less then the rest of the world and I would like to seek your help if interested.
Cost of machine making and rent would be 3.5lack INR, this would also include the labour cost for a few months and a small amount of money to research and test on products.
Please write back
I’m still on and willing to contribute approximately 500€, which I think is 10% of your budget. If that works for you, would you be able to send more info about the project, cost breakdown, planning? Thanks.
Namaste,
I HAVE SENT YOU A PRIVATE MESSAGE PLEASE ALLOW ME TO COMMUNICATE IN PERSON.
BEST.
Aloha rafafont!
I am an established entrepreneur and artist in Hawaii. I am currently developing my startup plan. From the looks of things at this point, I am planning to make sheets of plastic with a compression machine to make furniture. My initial product idea at the moment is to make rocking chairs! I feel like with the engineering and design challenge a rocking chair will produce, I will be able to then make other types of outdoor furniture including picnic tables, benches, and tables and chairs.
Here’s the business abstract for your review
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B6B-zfKLLXKnng0On_UI5Cf575ADT5ZOCcz-Ew09-9A/edit?usp=sharing
Here’s a spreadsheet of product analysis
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Fs4TIItPUwQyEG4EcyARme-inqYZvobTmzVk1icyrSg/edit?usp=sharing
My design notes and product development isn’t packaged very well to go in the cloud. I’m busy with paying the bills, and am working with my landlord and family to transition into making plastic recycling my line of work!
@abekowitz , Thanks for posting your business abstract and spreadsheet. PP has not developed a model business plan so yours is leading the effort.
Some observations:
If you are going to work in a 40′ container, you probably need to add some fume management equipment (HVAC stuff) to the list.
Have you made any prototypes of your molded items? I think you can put together a prototype injection machine for under $200. Might be a good way to test drive the mold making to finished product path. At the hobby level, I’m still testing that process. Coming up with a low cost way of making molds is a challenge.
Have you had any interest from the educational or municipal management side? I would think that with the change in the Chinese policy on recyclables, there would be pressure in Hawaii to come up with pilot programs to address the issue, and grant money might be available.
Good luck
@abekowitz, nice and outstanding work, thanks for sharing. Unfortunately there are indeed just a handful evidences that this trade can pay the bills as far I know. It really depends on your skills, budget, network, etc.. everything is possible with patience.
Kudos to the rocking chairs; other than injection & sheets via compression, you can use the extrusion which is a continues process you can automate with some extra efforts. Also quality is standing out. I’d setup even multiple extrusions for various profiles simultaneously. Competing with the furniture market is darn hard; here in Europe near impossible to get your feet in the door except you can build on a network, etc… If you could share in a dedicated thread more details on what you have, we have always some spare time for consultancy, getting enthusiasts ready; via email, whatsapp… PP is a little short of success stories and I am sure the community here can help you along. There is also this new Discord app btw.
thanks for the tip on fume management, I was thinking of outfitting container to where its well ventilated. I was under the assumption that since the plastic isn’t being burnt, but only melted, the fumes would be minimal. I’ll look further into it. I haven’t made any prototypes yet, I was thinking of making a plywood rocking chair to start. Correct me if I’m wrong, but an injection machine would work only for smaller items, right? Living on an island, we all know each other. I have a friend who works for the county recycling department. The local community could easily be a resource as well. I have the interest of a couple local non-profits, who want to take initiative in recycling plastic and moving toward plastic alternatives. Once I get things started, I’ll look for ways to expand with grants and financing.
@ppboys
I am used to coming up with creative ways to make a living, so I’m looking forward to this opportunity! I am confident I can produce a quality operation producing products people will want to purchase. I also have a handful of local businesses who believe in me and will sell whatever I offer them. I am an established local artist and am well known, so once I make a quality product I’ll be able to get the attention of the community and sell their plastic waste back to them! I initially wanted to use the extrusion machine to make boards, (and still may do so) but I’m concerned about dealing with the texture and potential air bubbles. In the coming weeks, I’m going to map out the manufacturing process comparing the two techniques to see which has greater chance for a quality product and which will take less effort. Once I get some more time available to dedicate to this, I’ll get more organized. I’ll check out the Discord app now.
To both of you, thanks for the support and feedback!
, nice and outstanding work, thanks for sharing. Unfortunately there are indeed just a handful evidences that this trade can pay the bills as far I know. It really depends on your skills, budget, network, etc.. everything is possible with patience.Kudos to the rocking chairs; other than injection & sheets via compression, you can use the extrusion which is a continues process you can automate with some extra efforts. Also quality is standing out. I’d setup even multiple extrusions for various profiles simultaneously. Competing with the furniture market is darn hard; here in Europe near impossible to get your feet in the door except you can build on a network, etc… If you could share in a dedicated thread more details on what you have, we have always some spare time for consultancy, getting enthusiasts ready; via email, whatsapp… PP is a little short of success stories and I am sure the community here can help you along. There is also this new Discord app btw.
Yeah, for the fume issue, there is a V4 topic http://onearmy.world/community/forums/topic/v4-fume-extraction-4/ . In working with just my injection machine in an open garage, melting HDPE, the fumes were noticeable and objectionable. I did a small fume hood you can see it here http://onearmy.world/community/forums/topic/portable-desktop-injection-machine/page/3/ . Whatever you do for a compression machine will need to be bigger, you will have more hot plastic exposed.
Yes, the injection machines have limited volume. You have some smaller art items in your spreadsheet that might work as test runs for your process. The starfish at the tail end of the thread above is about the limit of what my machine can do.
Sounds like you have good local support. That is great.
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