ATLANTA — Georgia Tech researchers are finding a new way to give plastic waste a second life, turning hard-to-recycle plastic into new materials and products.
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Inside Georgia Tech’s new Trash Lab, students, researchers and faculty are getting hands-on experience with upcycling, recycling and sustainable manufacturing.
At the center of the lab is a compact machine called the miniTrashpresso.
It can take used plastic and other waste materials, process them on-site, and turn them into new products in less than five minutes.
Georgia Tech says it is the first university in North America to operate a miniTrashpresso machine.
The process starts with everyday plastic waste, including things like takeout containers, cups and other packaging.
The plastic is shredded, heated, and compressed using specialized equipment and molds.
And what was once trash can become something people can actually use.
The lab has already demonstrated products including wireless chargers, bowls, and even sunglasses made from recycled plastic.
Dr. Jennifer Chirico, Georgia Tech’s vice president of sustainability, says finding ways to keep hard-to-recycle plastics in use is an important part of the university’s goal of moving toward zero waste.
“There are a lot of types of plastics that can’t be recycled,” Chirico said. “So, finding ways we can recirculate those products in a positive way back to society is really important to Georgia Tech and getting to zero waste.”
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And researchers say another potential benefit is processing that waste closer to where it is collected.
Instead of sending some materials long distances to centralized recycling facilities, the miniTrashpresso can process them locally, potentially cutting down on transportation and creating new opportunities for local manufacturing.
Georgia Tech researchers are also looking at just how far they can take the idea.
Michael Best, executive director of the Institute for People and Technology, says one vision is taking something as small as a plastic water bottle and eventually turning it into something much larger, potentially even a building or a piece of architecture.
The lab is designed to give students a place to experiment with that idea, bringing together sustainability, engineering, design, and manufacturing.
And the goal is bigger than simply recycling a piece of plastic.
Researchers hope the Trash Lab can help change the way people think about waste, seeing discarded materials not as something that has reached the end of its life, but as a resource that can be turned into something new.
The hope is to eventually take these ideas beyond the lab, creating products people can actually use while keeping more plastic waste out of landfills.
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