Precious Plastics

Creating new designs using recycled plastics

The Precious Plastics program at Northcote High opens up a wide range of opportunities when considering Product Design and Technology as an elective. Before I knew about Precious Plastics, I thought all my renewable and recyclable designs could only be done with wood and cardboard, sometimes metals, but I never thought of using plastic. This was because of how little information I had about plastic after it was thrown away in the recycling bin. I knew that it went to a factory and was eventually turned into something new, but what I didn’t know was how it was done. 

In Precious Plastics I learned the full life cycle of plastics and how I can use them in a good way with recycled designs. After learning about different methods of processing recycled plastic into new material, I started using plastic in my designs. My past 3 assessment tasks in Product Design and Technology have used plastic. I have moulded HDPE plastic when it was hot and made dice out of the product. I have recycled failed 3d prints (PLA plastic) and then made colourful sheets out of them to cut on the laser to make buttons. I am currently making large HDPE plastic sheets and using the CNC router to cut out squares which I will use as puzzle pieces in the sliding puzzle I am building. These are some of the few ways to include plastics into my designs. I highly suggest that students try Precious Plastics as it won’t just inform students about the life cycle of plastics, it’s pollution, and our part in how we can use recycled plastics, it gives us more renewable and creative designs. 

~ Stirling Unsworth Year 11