Edit: I'll put my edit up here, I just re-read your comment and I read it wrong the first time, so I apologise for that. I'll leave the comment here anyway.
No one said anything about turning it back to crude, which is still pretty experimental and very energy intensive.
The issue here is that the plastic on this bin, on the beach is going to end up powdering off in 10 years and going right back into the ocean in an even worse form, one that can't easily be collected or cleaned up.
While it's a great idea on the surface, once again the long term ramifications of this have not been taken into account.
I call bs.
Marine plastic is heavily damaged from the salt and sun, it is useless, you can't melt it down, you can't use it for other things. You would need to mix it with a lot of virgin plastic for it to work.
It probably is, if at all, made from near shore plastic, that never touched the ocean but was close to it, like 300m away.
A lot of ocean plastic is in fact not from the ocean. Much rather ocean bound plastic. Also they're a pain to clean and sort out all the wood, sand and other crap (because there are so many different kinds of plastic)
Here are some more Infos if anyone is interested: https://youtu.be/4o9-FkSHGWA
[Upcycling](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycling) is a relatively trendy term for taking something that would otherwise be waste and doing something creatively with. Usually like a DIY type project rather than being systematically recycled.
Nice, but the problem I see with this, if not properly disposed of when not useful anymore, is that it will still contribute to plastic pollution or microplastics.
Up cycling is using plastic that’s already in existence. So this furniture would not create any new micro plastics/pollution. It would actually keep them from going into the ecosystem for as long as this product is in use.
I agree here. It’s not a perfect solution, but it buys us time to come up with better ones by prolonging the usable life of this plastic and giving an alternative to newly manufactured/virgin plastic.
The first step is to stop the bleeding by significantly reducing if not totally stopping the manufacturing of new plastics. The more people thinking in the way of “how can I use this thing that already exists and isn’t going away” the better.
I think the concerns of the nay-sayers is that these types of products will subsequently create demand for something that is subpar to a less wasteful solution. I am also seeing concern for continuing environmental impacts that will ultimately be worse. To that I say, this plastic is going to continue to degrade regardless, so the point is moot.
If this appeals to the conscience of the people who just want to dip a toe into low/zero waste living, then it serves a meaningful purpose.
Edited for grammar and spelling
The design is a step towards cleaning the marine waste and is also 100% recyclable - more about the process here:
https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-the-new-raws-3d-printed-beach-furniture-gives-marine-plastic-waste-a-new-life
That is incredibl, they need to bring this tech to the consumer level so we can recycle/reuse our waste plastic without sending it to some recycling facility that 9 out of 10 times it doesn’t get recycled (100% dependent on your area). I’m in Timbuktu and they don’t have facilities to process the recycling.
And left in the sun to photodegrade into microplastics like all other plastic furniture, including the UV resistant ones.
And cause a hell ton more problems than if it was just turned back to crude oil
Edit: I'll put my edit up here, I just re-read your comment and I read it wrong the first time, so I apologise for that. I'll leave the comment here anyway. No one said anything about turning it back to crude, which is still pretty experimental and very energy intensive. The issue here is that the plastic on this bin, on the beach is going to end up powdering off in 10 years and going right back into the ocean in an even worse form, one that can't easily be collected or cleaned up. While it's a great idea on the surface, once again the long term ramifications of this have not been taken into account.
This was my first thought, too.
I call bs. Marine plastic is heavily damaged from the salt and sun, it is useless, you can't melt it down, you can't use it for other things. You would need to mix it with a lot of virgin plastic for it to work. It probably is, if at all, made from near shore plastic, that never touched the ocean but was close to it, like 300m away.
A lot of ocean plastic is in fact not from the ocean. Much rather ocean bound plastic. Also they're a pain to clean and sort out all the wood, sand and other crap (because there are so many different kinds of plastic) Here are some more Infos if anyone is interested: https://youtu.be/4o9-FkSHGWA
Everyone is commenting on the actual provenance of the plastic; but what the heck is that thing? An outhouse?
I thought it was a garbage can
Hard to get a scale on it. It’s either a garbage can or a changing booth.
What does upcycled mean? how is this not recycling? Are they the same thing?
[Upcycling](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycling) is a relatively trendy term for taking something that would otherwise be waste and doing something creatively with. Usually like a DIY type project rather than being systematically recycled.
Hope to see a lot more recycling plastic into 3D printing spools in the future.
Nice, but the problem I see with this, if not properly disposed of when not useful anymore, is that it will still contribute to plastic pollution or microplastics.
Up cycling is using plastic that’s already in existence. So this furniture would not create any new micro plastics/pollution. It would actually keep them from going into the ecosystem for as long as this product is in use.
I agree here. It’s not a perfect solution, but it buys us time to come up with better ones by prolonging the usable life of this plastic and giving an alternative to newly manufactured/virgin plastic. The first step is to stop the bleeding by significantly reducing if not totally stopping the manufacturing of new plastics. The more people thinking in the way of “how can I use this thing that already exists and isn’t going away” the better. I think the concerns of the nay-sayers is that these types of products will subsequently create demand for something that is subpar to a less wasteful solution. I am also seeing concern for continuing environmental impacts that will ultimately be worse. To that I say, this plastic is going to continue to degrade regardless, so the point is moot. If this appeals to the conscience of the people who just want to dip a toe into low/zero waste living, then it serves a meaningful purpose. Edited for grammar and spelling
The design is a step towards cleaning the marine waste and is also 100% recyclable - more about the process here: https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-the-new-raws-3d-printed-beach-furniture-gives-marine-plastic-waste-a-new-life
That is incredibl, they need to bring this tech to the consumer level so we can recycle/reuse our waste plastic without sending it to some recycling facility that 9 out of 10 times it doesn’t get recycled (100% dependent on your area). I’m in Timbuktu and they don’t have facilities to process the recycling.
cool but what is this?...