Precious Plastic Blog 1: The Why

Plastic. In today’s society, we can hardly go without it, it is everywhere, pervades everything… This issue can be overwhelming and difficult to work through, which is why the Precious Plastic project is approaching it from one angle, addressing one specific but significant stream.

This blog item is one of four upcoming blog posts about the Precious Plastic project. Visit the Precious Plastic homepage to learn more.

This blog post is the first of four. See the list of upcoming blogs on our Precious Plastic homepage

What is Precious Plastic?

The Precious Plastic project is a collaboration between the Green Office(s) of Utrecht University and Hogeschool Utrecht. In this projects, Hogeschool Utrecht students will be building the Extrusion Pro* and its motor. The final result? A machine that will take local shredded plastic from Utrecht Science Park and turn it into something valuable.

We hope that this project will get you to think and develop a keen eye. While the larger problem is too big for any one person to handle, there are always hidden streams that we can potentially control.

Would you like to know about plastic and how it gets transported across the world? Open the dropdown paragraph below.

Student research; the foundation behind the project

A lot of plastics get wasted unnecessarily behind closed doors. We call these hidden waste streams, and Precious Plastic has its target set on one specific example.

Months ago, we got a tip about the plastic jerrycans used by lab staff across campus – mostly containing simple chemicals - wasted without recycling. A transdisciplinary group of inquisitive UU students then decided to get to the bottom of this issue. To everyone’s surprise, it turned out that there are around 170 jerrycans being wasted every week at Utrecht University, amounting to about 2359 kilos of plastic per year.

“That’s why having this kind of research is interesting”, said Doria Zabeo, master’s student and part of the transdisciplinary case study group, “you can raise awareness through actual data. You were shocked about all the jerrycans, it’s like a room full of plastic waste every day. It makes you stop and think”. Doria and her groupmates - who came from a variety of backgrounds including governance, energy & materials, and water science management - had the task of figuring out the most sustainable way of dealing with these jerry cans. In an ideal world, these jerrycans should simply be reused for the same purpose, but for now only three options were available: staying with the current system, recycling the plastic in the jerrycans, or upcycling** them. Out of these three, upcycling came out as a clear winner. This was thanks to the lower amount of electricity and water required to upcycle something, and the smaller carbon emissions. This created the conceptual backing for our Precious Plastic project.

 

An example of what we'll be doing with this plastic. Source: Preciousplastic.com

Good intentions

Before you go into any conspiracy theory, no, the jerrycan wastage is not the result of some dastardly scheme to make plastic travel more than humans. It is the consequence of faults in the system that big institutions like ours are bound to have. These jerrycans are only a symbol for more hidden waste streams that are not being handled properly.

For years, lab workers have been preparing these jerrycans for recycling with the best intentions. Once empty, these jerrycans were cleaned and aired out so that no chemical traces would remain.  During her research, lab workers told Doria that there was a widespread conviction that these jerrycans would be refilled by the original company after use. This was the case eight years ago, but when the policy changed, the news did not reach everyone.

These jerrycans are generally harmless, but the issue is that they feature hazardous waste labels which are difficult to remove, forcing the waste collector to process it as general waste, paving an express route for these jerrycans to the incinerator.  Now that this issue has been brought to light however, it can be changed. Through talking to people at every level of the chain, Doria and her groupmates got a good oversight of the issue and reminded us that the motivation among staff to solve the issue is there. All people need is time for strategic thinking, willingness to act, and knowledge that they can act upon.

*the Extrusion Pro is the Precious Plastic machine which molds plastic into a new shape

**upcycling means transforming waste material into something of increased value

Follow the Green Office on Facebook, Instagram, or sign up to our newsletter to stay updated.  In Blog 2, we look at how we achieved cooperation between both universities.