Recycling HDPE

Anyone on here tried anything like this? We get through a lot of HDPE bottles

Interesting! IIRC there used to be something on the RepRap site about recycling plastic milk bottles by forming them into filament then printing out kid's beach sandals! My office shredder will cope with CDs, that would be much faster than snipping up the bottle with scissors!

Yes I did see something somewhere about making filament from recycled plastic for 3D printers.. I’ve seen a number of YouTube videos recorded in India showing plastic being recycled

By coincidence, I was watching the abbreviated version of this video on Facebook the other day.
Turn the sound down though unless you're into repetitive electronic "music"



If you want the safely warnings added by the video producer, have a look on Youtube.

Bill

Gosh, looks a bit messy. I’d have to wait until someone went out for the day to do that!

Maybe a trip to the charity shops next week to see if anyone has donated a flat grill like the one in the video.

Bill

Yes, that’s a good thought Bill, thanks.

I think this came up 4 or 5 years ago on here. Loads of videos around. I have been collecting milk bottle tops for a while but not got round to risking it in the gas oven. Really annoyed that I ditched my Baby Belling 30 years ago. Note that mostly they are melting LDPE (bottles) at a slightly lower temperature than HDPE.
General feeling on the GaugeOne3DCircle zoom calls that home recycled filament is not going to produce models that win prizes.

Edit: Now that I've watched the initial video that uses a heat gun I'm half way inspired to have a go as it seems easier than an oven though I wonder about balancing adhesion and smell. I'm also a bit surprised that his Forstner style bit didn't melt itself into the plastic. Oddly enough I was using just such a bit the other day on an almost identical woodworkers bench though mine is covered in oil stains as it came with a Drummond attached. (fear not the big D is getting proper maker's iron legs).

Edited By Bazyle on 08/01/2023 19:25:36

I suppose it very much depends on what you intend to make. Having seen the material melted in a tin can with a heat gun and then turned into a mallet this seems like a good first project for me. I could always use another mallet!

We have been asked by are local council for recycling milk bottles to squash the bottles flat, to make more space in the bin, not air, and replace the tops as now all tops are the same material and colour as the bottle. No coloured tops in all local supermarkets around here.

David

The company in the link has a lot of information about recycling plastics, including construction of basic machines - lot of useful information if you are interested - I have no connection. I built a machine to 'consolidate' plastic after reading this - the parts were easy enough to obtain from various chinese websites.

https://preciousplastic.com/solutions/machines/basic.html

Link (same as above)

I made a mould out of aluminium and melted some pieces from a round bar of HDPE in it to make some 2" square blocks.

Used a gas torch to heat the mould and feed in small pieces of the bar. A bit crude but it worked OK. Did it outdoors as it was a smelly job.

There is a video online from the ARW channel making a powered electric/air extruder for bottle caps. Probably 5 years ago if I recall.

regards