How can I melt plastic at home?

How to melt plastic for gluing

Plastic is one of the materials that we use the most in our daily lives and one of those that produces the greatest amount of waste. Currently, its use is very diverse because it has a versatility that allows us to manufacture clothing accessories, kitchen or personal hygiene items, furniture, home decoration elements, etc.

Generally, plastics are made from resin polymers mixed with petroleum-based substances and molded by pressure and heat. Depending on how this molding is carried out, we can obtain different types of plastic which, in turn, have different physical and mechanical properties (greater or lesser flexibility, hardness, insulating capacity, etc.). Similarly, depending on their properties, you will know which plastics are recycled or not.

Before knowing which plastics are recycled, you need to understand the plastic waste recycling process: although it is relatively simple. The path begins at the yellow garbage cans, from where the plastics are taken to sorting plants.

Plastic melting liquid

Reusing plastic water bottles is a way to give a conscious response to one of the great problems of consumer society: the excessive use of this material. Although the ideal is to minimize its consumption, we can make crafts with plastic bottles to compensate for the consumption decisions we make. In short, this is a creative way to contribute to reducing the effects of climate change that will also help you save money at home.

Before we go into detail and look at the 10 ways to reuse plastic that we have collected in this article, let’s understand the importance of doing something with this material. It is estimated that 80% of the pollution of seas and oceans corresponds to plastics that have been deposited in them. This is a problem that has devastating consequences not only for aquatic ecosystems, but also for human beings. A large part of the food we consume is considered to contain microplastics, which are microscopic particles that are harmful to health.

How to melt plastic to make parts

Currently, the best known way to recycle plastic is by depositing plastic waste in the yellow garbage can.  Once here, the people in charge of handling it will be responsible for collecting the waste to take it to a specialized recycling center.

The waste generated at home can range from plastic bottles to bags. Bricks, fruit nets, transparent or silver paper, aerosols, polystyrene trays, packaging for other products, etc. are also common.

The first measure to recycle plastic at home is to include a specific trash can for this waste. Ideally, this bin should be placed next to the main garbage bin in the house. In this way, when throwing the waste, we can more easily separate the plastic from the rest.

Another possible option is to purchase a domestic plastic shredder. This machine shreds the plastic so that it takes up very little space. The waste that we place both in the bucket and in the shredder will then be taken to the yellow container.

How to melt plastic at home

At the moment, neither governments nor political parties have much interest in proposing serious solutions to solve the plastic problem. It costs a lot of money, and it doesn’t win too many votes. So it is up to us, the citizens, the people in the street, to find solutions to the problem of plastic waste. Precious Plastic is an initiative to build our own DIY plastic recycling machine, and create our own objects.

Some can even make a profit from plastic recycling: they buy plastic from people for 10 euro cents per kilo, and create objects such as plates, cups, or toys, which they then sell at street stalls.

The Comgrow Creality 3D Ender 3 3D printer is one of the most affordable and best-rated 3D printers on Amazon. It is a DIY 3D printer with a printing surface of 220 x 220 x 250 mm. It only needs 5 minutes of warm-up, and is capable of resuming printing when it stops.

The platform has won 300,000 euros in a recycling award, which they are going to use to professionalize it a bit. The idea is to create something similar to Raspberry Pi: very cheap DIY plastic recycling machines, or the parts for people to build, and a community to share projects to apply that plastic recycling.