Verba manufactures food trays for pig production of stainless steel and recycled plastic. These recycled PE plates with a colour film are made at Ekon in Limburg from PE plastic, such as soft drink bottle caps and other plastics. Once these sheets have been processed, scraps remain, which are sent back to Ekon where they can be used to make new recycled PE sheets. The sawdust and drilling and milling waste cannot be used in the remoulding of new recycled sheets. Guus Nijs and Fabian Heerkens, students at Avans University of Applied Sciences In the Dutch-Hertogenbosch graduation assignment with Part-E, of the cousins Robbert and Mark van Kaathoven, to make this sawdust, drilling and milling waste from Verba new grains that can be printed 3D. This success is a novelty in the field of recycling and 3D printing. In a subsequent graduation assignment we look at the marketing of products that can be made with this.
Article in MooiRooi:
A first for Rooi: Robot prints in 3D using 100 per cent recycled plastic
Fri 29 Jan 2021, 16:23
Sint-Oedenrode – What is a mountain of rubbish to one person is a pile of gold to another. More and more plastic is being processed into new raw materials. This can help build a more sustainable world. Part-E, a start-up based in Sint-Oedenrode, is tackling this issue in its own unique way. They produce plastic pellets and, following various trials, recently achieved a breakthrough.
Turning waste into something valuable is something the Van Kaathoven family has been doing for many years. Cousins Mark and Robbert van Kaathoven, through their company Part-E, are working on turning this plastic waste into useful new products.
For example, they have processed production waste from feed tray producer VERBA into raw material. In collaboration with students from the Avans University of Applied Sciences, they have managed to re-use these plastic granules without any additional additions. This achieved a novel in the field of 3D printing within half a year.
Using a robotic arm and a printer, the Spark Innovation Lab in Den Bosch is able to print objects measuring up to 7 by 7 metres. Virtually no organisation anywhere in the world has ever before managed to print large products from fully recycled material.
The main aim now is to use the new raw material in a range of sustainable products. Initial plans for partnerships have already been drawn up. In collaboration with Spark, work is well under way to start printing the well-known concrete road barriers from 100 per cent recycled material. Innovation is in full swing, so it won’t be long before the first road barriers are made from a sustainable material.
