University of Wollongong Science Collaboration 

Stage Three have been lucky to work with the University of Wollongong (UOW) on a project to upcycle used plastics. 

 

On Thursday of week 7, Stage 3 classes participated in a one hour workshop where they investigated recycled plastics. 

 

Helen Georgiou and Donald Connor from UOW brought plastics that had been sorted and shredded at the Makerspace at the university. They had HDPE plastics to make ‘spinning tops’ using 3D printed moulds. Additionally they brought PLA (recycled from 3D printers) to make flat sheets of plastic for student's 'bag tags' that they have designed on the Tinkercad app. The students were able to arrange the shredded plastics into colours and melt them down into a flat sheet using sandwich presses. 

 

Helen has taken the plastic sheets back to UOW and will use the laser cutter at the university to cut the designs out of the plastic sheets according to the students designs on Tinkercad. Students will receive the plastic cut outs attached to a key ring so that they can attach to their bag if they would like

It has been a fantastic experience for Stage 3 students and teachers and we would like to thank all families who donated their plastic bottle lids!