Non-Profit Organisation Launches Crowdfunding Campaign After Developing Method of Recycling Mixed Contaminated Plastics

New method of recycling mixed contaminated waste comes as China bans waste imports and PM outlines 25-year war on scourge of plastic waste

Around 83% of the world’s drinking water contains plastic particles. By 2050 it’s predicted that there will be more plastic in the planet’s oceans than fish. With many single use items being discarded and China enacting a ban to stop plastic waste imports from the UK, USA, Europe and Japan something needs to change – a new crowdfunding campaign for a Scottish non-profit which collects mixed, contaminated plastic waste and turns it into a useful, durable new material looks set to be the change that’s needed.

UnWANTEDplastics.com takes waste plastics which would typically be sent to landfill – and end up in our food and water supplies – and turns them into usable lengths that are cheaper than alternatives such as wood and metal. The non-profits trials have already indicated that at the correct temperature, multiple plastics can be fused together, giving a timely solution as the UK government declared war on plastic in 25-year plan.

Khalid Khames, founder of unWANTEDplastics.com and the director of a leading Scottish construction company said, “China’s ban on plastic waste imports has resulted in an immediate build-up of millions of tons of plastic waste. Contaminated, mixed plastic waste is either burned in toxic incineration, sent to landfill or worse, ends up in the ocean, where it’s consumed by aquatic life and ends up in the food chain. If we don’t take action now, it will be too late.

“While there are projects like Ocean Cleanup and Sea Bin who do great work removing plastic from the ocean, there’s been no solution to then recycle it. We have developed a way to recycle mixed contaminated plastic into usable lengths and we’re crowd funding to build a non-profit recycling centre which will take the some 500,000 tonnes of plastic waste Britain used to ship to China each year and turn it into a useful, durable new product.”

Britain first began to export its plastic waste to China two decades ago, but with the ban in action, a new method of dealing with items such as cotton swabs and single use containers is crucial. unWANTEDPlastic’s method processed and extrudes the waste material into lengths such as fence supports or beams.

Khames added, “The average 40 yard waste container holds up to 4.5 tonnes of mixed waste. We estimate a “plastics only” dedicated waste container will hold closer to 2 tonnes of waste. Assuming 20 local businesses request two uplifts per month we will make 40 collects totalling 80 tonnes.”

unWANTEDplastics’s test indicate it can fuse multiple plastics together but, existing extrusion companies say they could not handle this process, as the resulting plastic would stick to the inside of the screw. As a result, a chunk of the crowdfunding campaign will go towards building a dedicated extrusion machine. The service estimates that it will turn over £132,000 per annum at just 20 collections per month – funds will be used to expand its recycling operations.

unWANTEDplastic is crowdfunding on IndieGoGo. To donate to the $362,600 funding goal visit: https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/start-solving-the-global-plastic-waste-problem

To find out more visit http://www.unwantedplastics.com.