Starter Kit. Idea 417 of 500. Cluster 21
Plastic-recycling units making building products from the beach and river waste
The mechanism, from the book
The sun shines on every roof and the island imports its fuel.
The first step
Collect a sack of plastic from one beach or riverbank and weigh it, then find a small press or mould operator willing to turn a test batch into paving tiles, fence posts or roof sheets. Take the samples to two hardware shops and a building contractor and ask what they would pay compared with what they stock. The proof is a price quoted by a buyer for a product made from waste.
- Who pays first
- A hardware shop or small builder looking for cheaper paving and fencing, who buys if the product holds up and undercuts what they stock now.
- What leaves today
- Plastic waste fouls the beaches the tourist trade sells, while builders buy their materials in; one unit turns a liability into stock for local builders.
Ask first
- Central Environmental Authority. Ask what approval a small plastic-recycling unit needs.
- Sri Lanka Standards Institution. Ask whether building products made from recycled plastic must meet a standard.
Check before you spend
Environmental approval for melting or pressing plastic, safe air for workers, and whether builders may use your product where it is sold.
Find out these three numbers
- What do hardware shops pay for the products you would replace?
- How much plastic can you collect each week?
- What does a small press cost?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.