精东传媒

Instead of blaming the system, when faced with an ethical dilemma, UOW environmental engineering student Lachlan Crawford set out to improve the system. His engagement with UOW鈥檚 Student Makerspace led to a keen interest in 3D printing, which unfortunately produces a significant amount of plastic waste.

^{Lachlan Crawford shredding plastic at the UOW Student Makerspace}

About 60 per cent of the plastic used in 3D printing goes to waste.

鈥淚 was asked a question, 鈥楢s an environmental engineer, do you ever feel bad about the amount of plastic you鈥檙e consuming for 3D printing?鈥欌�� Mr Crawford says.

鈥淚t really got me thinking, 鈥榊es, it does bother me, so let鈥檚 do something about it鈥�.鈥�

The problem of plastic waste also became clear to Nathan Riggir when the 精东传媒 of 精东传媒 opened its Student Makerspace in the library in 2017.

鈥淭he nature of 3D printing is that the prints don鈥檛 always work,鈥� says Mr Riggir, the Student Makerspace Coordinator.

鈥淲e quickly realised how much waste was coming out of the 3D printers. So we started to investigate solutions and discovered a concept inspired by the precious plastics initiative.鈥�

Mr Riggir made a conscious decision to change the plastic used in 3D printing to polylactic acid (PLA). This is a thermoplastic aliphatic polyester derived from renewable resources, such as corn starch.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more biodegradable but the waste is still going to landfill,鈥� Mr Riggir says.

鈥淚t鈥檚 still going to be there for a long time before it breaks down.鈥�

He and Meaghan Quirk, Library Client Relationship Officer, decided that recycling was the way forward.

They acquired the tools to turn the 3D filament waste into new filament for 3D printing.

Their tools are fairly limited at this stage. There is a shredder operated with a hand crank, used to break the plastic into tiny pieces before it is heated up and fused together again.

^{Nathan Riggir, Meaghan Quirk and Lachlan Crawford with plastic waste at UOW Students Makerspace}

鈥淲e鈥檝e just sourced a gear box and a motor, my goal is to have the motorised shredder up and running for Climate Change Week,鈥� Mr Crawford says.

Global Climate Change Week is a big deal at UOW.

Global Climate Change Week, which , is the brainchild of UOW academics and students. It aims to encourage academics in all disciplines and countries to engage with each other, their communities, and policy makers on climate change action and solutions.

So, in a small way, the Student Makerspace will be taking part in the week of action from October 14 to 20.

鈥淪hort term we want to be recycling all the plastic from the 3D printers located in the Student Makerspace, longer term we want to recycle all the plastic on campus, aside from medical waste and stuff you shouldn鈥檛 recycle,鈥� Mr Crawford says.

The Student Makerspace recycling initiative team is well aware of the problem facing Australia.

On average, Australians use 130kg of plastic per person per year. Only 12 per cent of that is recycled. Up to 130,000 tonnes of plastic will find its way into our waterways and eventually into the ocean. Now the wheels are beginning to fall off our recycling system. In the past, we shipped our problems overseas, but a number of countries which once willingly took our waste are shutting us out. China, Malaysia, and India are refusing to take our plastic bottles and other recyclable materials.

^{China says it will not accept any more imported garbage} 

Mr Crawford says Australian companies are beginning to warm to the idea of recycling plastics.

鈥淚 know Bluescope is looking at different ways to recycle their plastic and ,鈥� Mr Crawford says.

鈥淭here are so many discussions about how the climate is changing these days. There鈥檚 that follow up discussion about plastic pollution. More companies are becoming aware and wanting to do something, but not always knowing how.鈥�

They want to draw attention to the problem 鈥揳t least on campus.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about being aware of what the waste is and where it goes, which is why we鈥檙e thinking of making it more engaging, using an exercise bike to break down the waste, so they can stop on their way to class out the front of the library and shred their own waste,鈥� Mr Riggir says.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to raise awareness.鈥�

^{Meaghan, Lachlan and Nathan working on the recycling initiative at UOW}

Students are time poor and Mr Riggir has had trouble finding students available to collaborate on the recycling project. He would like to work the recycling initiative into the curriculum, and he鈥檚 working with a couple of subject coordinators to try and make this a reality in 2020.

What can they do with the plastic once it鈥檚 shredded?

They will need to create moulds so they can remodel the plastic into items of choice once it鈥檚 been melted down.

鈥淭he moulds themselves are quite expensive, so if we do something like a Keep cup, a lot of people use them and they鈥檙e very standard,鈥� Mr Crawford says.

鈥淵ou could make a lot of Keep cups from all the recycled plastics on campus.鈥�

Ms Quirk says they鈥檙e considering cast-moulding clipboards, handles and pieces of artwork.

While it would be great to recycle tonnes upon tonnes of plastic, there is a more significant goal in mind. All three agree that too much plastic is being used needlessly on campus. To make a serious impact, people either need to change their habits or a ban must be enforced.

鈥淭o really make a difference I鈥檇 be looking to minimise the waste we have on campus,鈥� Ms Quirk says.

鈥淲e go through more than 100,000 water bottles per year. I鈥檇 like to see single-use coffee cups banned on campus. Coffee cups are worse than water bottles and we can鈥檛 recycle them with the equipment we鈥檙e making. Plastic cutlery, plates and all polystyrene needs to go too.鈥�