Precious Plastics Plastic Shredder Pro

Target SDGs

Market Suggested Retail Price

$2,508.00

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household, Community, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Public Sector Agencies, NGOs

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

The products are distributed by the manufacturer.

Manufacturing/Building Method

The Shredder Pro is constructed in the Netherlands. Users can also fabricate their own shredder following instructions provided by Precious Plastics.

Intellectural Property Type

Open-source

User Provision Model

Precious Plastics provides instructions on how to build the shredder from scratch. Users can also purchase machines directly from the manufacturer.

Distributions to Date Status

Due to the open-source nature of this product, the exact number of distributions to date are unknown. Some examples of placewhere it has been built are Kenya, Mexico, Bali, Taiwan and South Africa.

Design Specifications

This shredder is very robust and reliable. The machine is designed to process the high stresses required to shred plastic. The adjustable meshes allow the shredder to operate in a shredding as well as a granulating phase. This machine is designed for relatively easy assembly. No welding is required for the core shredding box, and all further welds are straightforward and has been designed to be easy to clean.  The plastic shredder weighs 340 kg and is made mostly out of metal parts. The dimension of the Shredder Pro is 1205 x 550 x 1512 mm.    

Product Schematics

Technical Support

Instruction videos are available from Precious Plastics.

Replacement Components

Replacement components can be purchased from the manufacturer.

Lifecycle

Unknown

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

Precious plastics designed the shredder with the criteria that it should be easy to build, affordable, and constructed with basic materials available everywhere.

Vetted Performance Status

Testing performed by the manufacturer found that 50 kg of plastic could be shredded per hour, however, no third-party testing has been completed.

Safety

The plastic shredder is made to shred plastic so it has to be handled with care. There is a protective piece around the chopper to help users avoid contact when in use.

Complementary Technical Systems

The plastics shredder is a machine in a series of machines designed by Precious Plastics for plastic recycling. The other machines are made to use the plastic flakes from the shredding to make new items.

Academic Research and References

Compliance with regulations

Unknown

Evaluation methods

The designer cites easy to build, affordable and that the materials used are globally accessible as criteria during the design of the shredder.

Other Information

This product was featured in WIRED and was initiated as a thesis project at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. A 3D model of the Shredder Pro can be found here. A video introducing the Precious Plastics concept can be found here. Precious plastics have received several awards such as the D&AD awards and the Social Design Talent Award. Precious plastics can be found on Youtube and LindedIn Instructions on how to build the shredder from scratch can be found here. Users can also purchase machines from the Plastic - bazar, which is a community marketplace for plastic recycling.