Decentralized recycling can create markets that large-scale manufacturing cannot

Inspired by a Dutch plastic recycling movement, that added the idea of ​​open source to the recycling business, Ronny Castillo, president of the Madre Tierra Verde, based in Curridabat, a neighborhood of San Jose, Costa Rica, created the Plástico Precioso initiative. The idea is to change society’s mindset, and begin to see plastic waste not as garbage, but as a potential raw material for the creation of other useful products.  for the life of modern human beings.

“(This project) allows to build a homemade plastics recycling plant. A series of machines that are easy to get, will help to reconvert plastic waste, and using it for 3D printers,” said Javier Pastor, in an article publish on Xataka. “What we have been trying to develop, with Plástico Precioso, is a Latin American community in Spanish, where all these processes and all these tools are in our language and will hep us, little by little, to connect with each other,” said Castillo.

Products with added value

Thanks to the use of a DIY (Do It Yourself) machinery designed and created by the people of Precious Plastic, anyone with a desire of entrepreneurship for a world with less plastic can become a recycling entrepreneur. Rony’s work, with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Costa Rica, has been working to bring these useful tools to the entire Central American region, with the idea to create recycling communities, in search of solutions to the plastic problem in the region.

In Costa Rica, Castillo’s efforts are focused in manufacturing different products out of recicled plastic. “We have two items, outside of what the community offers, which are personalized keychains, as well as the plastic base for Bluetooth speakers,” he told. The community offers the possibility of manufacture all kinds of products like plates, made from crushed plastic, chairs and designer furniture.

“In different videos and tutorials, it is possible to build a crusher, a compression molding machine, and injection molding machine and a machine that allows you to obtain plastic filament for 3D printers. Although some components are more delicate, most could be obtained in a junkyard and then reused from recycled components, fantastic – and the idea is to build as many machines possible,” he added.

Open communities

The Precious Plastic inciative builds everything out of recycled plastic, even brick walls. Photo: Precious Plastic

After, almost a year of work in Costa Rica, Plástico Precioso looks forward to expand through all of the Central America region. Thanks to Open Source mentality, any person or group in the countries can join this new movement.

“What we want is not only to transmit knowledge and techniques, but also to transfer technology, so that different collection centers can develop value-added products with the plastic they collect,” said Castillo.

In their website, you can find all the plans and tutorials for the construction of the plastics processing machinery and the creation of by-products. “What we look for is to create a community that feeds people with techniques and tools, that can be used for certain processes, in the recycling bussiness,” he added.

In Central American countries, where solid waste management is quite inefficient, a project like this presents  a great opportunity to reduce the impact we exert on natural areas, especially rivers and lakes.

In addition to reducing this impact there is also the possibility of generating development opportunities for different sectors of the population. As those behind the original idea say, “decentralized recycling can create markets that large-scale manufacturing cannot fill, especially in developing countries.”