Development of an experimental setup for microwave assisted drying of PET; a feasibility study

With high global ambitions for sustainability and circularity and increasing energy prices, the recycling industry keeps innovating to keep up with political goals and customer demand. Reducing the energy consumption in the recycling process reduces environmental impact and reduces financial costs for the customer. A energy intensive process...

Plastic Identification Anywhere: Development of open-source tools to simplify plastic sorting

Plastic pollution is a well-known problem worldwide, and is still growing. It negatively affects humans and wildlife through animal death, groundwater pollution and incorporation of micro plastics in our digestive system. There are many initiatives focusing on reducing the negative effects of plastic pollution, but the amount of plastic consumed...

Insights in the market of recycled plastic, with practical value chain research

The European Union (EU) landfilled and incinerated 600 million tons of waste in 2013, which could have been recycled and returned as raw material to the economy. Resource efficiency can regain this value and bring economic, environmental and social benefits. The EU has therefore adapted the Circular Economy Package with targets to stimulate the...

Transition of the mixed plastic household waste value chain: Almere as case in a multi-level analysis on innovation in the niche of recycling mixed plastics

Packaging plastics account for the majority of the household waste plastics. These plastics can be divided into a number of types of plastics, namely PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PS, EPS and others. However, many plastic packages consist of different types of plastics and are often contaminated, therefore these plastics end up in the mixed plastics....

KNIL Magazijnen, The Creative and Learning Cluster of Plastic Waste: An alternative approach to heritage adaptive re-use in Bandung, Indonesia

The transformation of Knil Magazijnen into a creative and learning cluster of plastic waste constitutes my attempt to explore the boundaries of heritage adaptive re-use in Bandung, Indonesia and how through the design of an inclusive and healthy environment, social and environmental challenges can be addressed in a more integrated way. In a...

A Plastic Plate Press: A locally producible plastic plate press for bottom-up recycling in low-resource settings

This project deals with two problems, which in combination ask for a single solution. The first problem being plastic waste accumulation in low resource areas and the second being that production and construction materials in these low-resource areas are often very expensive. When these two problems are combined, an opportunity arises to...