{"id":4026,"date":"2025-11-03T19:41:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T19:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/?p=4026"},"modified":"2025-11-03T19:55:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T19:55:25","slug":"what-liverpool-engineers-have-invented-for-plastic-recycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/eternal-4026-what-liverpool-engineers-have-invented-for-plastic-recycling","title":{"rendered":"What Liverpool Engineers Have Invented for Plastic Recycling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>So much has been said about the plastic crisis that it seems there\u2019s nothing left to add. But a group of enthusiastic engineers is collecting used bottles, grinding them into something resembling coloured shavings, and then printing new items from the result. Not in a factory \u2013 but on campus. The website <a href=\"http:\/\/liverpoolname.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">liverpoolname.com<\/a> discovered this and felt compelled to tell you about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Frankly, Liverpool looks somewhat untypical as a laboratory for the future of plastic recycling. University researchers and large corporations work here, and now an innovative packaging centre has also opened. Yet, despite all this enthusiasm, not everything is rosy: some technologies remain prototypes, and some plastic types are resistant to recycling even by the boldest extruder setup. Nevertheless, the story is interesting \u2013 because it hints at a way to make something useful out of Liverpool&#8217;s waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a6932704a8e2\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a6932704a8e2\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/eternal-4026-what-liverpool-engineers-have-invented-for-plastic-recycling\/#Campus_Recycling_When_Students_Become_the_Engineers_of_Tomorrow\" >Campus Recycling: When Students Become the Engineers of Tomorrow<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/eternal-4026-what-liverpool-engineers-have-invented-for-plastic-recycling\/#From_Waste_to_3D_How_the_Closed-Loop_Technology_Works\" >From Waste to 3D: How the Closed-Loop Technology Works<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/eternal-4026-what-liverpool-engineers-have-invented-for-plastic-recycling\/#Business_and_the_City_Innovation_Hubs_and_New_Packaging\" >Business and the City: Innovation Hubs and New Packaging<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/eternal-4026-what-liverpool-engineers-have-invented-for-plastic-recycling\/#What_Hinders_and_What_Helps_Scale_Ideas\" >What Hinders and What Helps Scale Ideas<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Campus_Recycling_When_Students_Become_the_Engineers_of_Tomorrow\"><\/span>Campus Recycling: When Students Become the Engineers of Tomorrow<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Engineering romance as it is: a mechanical engineering student stands next to a homemade shredder, feeds a plastic bottle into it, presses a button, and watches as the waste turns into raw material. All this is not a metaphor, but a project by a group of students from the University of Liverpool who decided: enough talking about ecology, it&#8217;s time to take action with our own hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"501\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-23.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4027\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-23.png 750w, https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-23-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-23-696x465.png 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the campus basement, they assembled a system capable of shredding plastic waste and converting it into material for 3D printing. The output is a coloured filament that can be used to print a new component, a souvenir, or, say, a charging cable holder. It sounds modest, but the essence here is not in the scale, but in the principle: waste is not taken away to nowhere, but completes a full cycle on site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the project participants, Jack Nesbitt, explains: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe goal is to turn collected plastic into raw material for new products through the design of a shredder and extruder.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not quite what we imagine when we hear the word &#8220;university,&#8221; but it aligns perfectly with the spirit of the time \u2013 when engineers must work in the proving ground of the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"From_Waste_to_3D_How_the_Closed-Loop_Technology_Works\"><\/span>From Waste to 3D: How the Closed-Loop Technology Works<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"362\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-24.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4030\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-24.png 362w, https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-24-272x300.png 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Liverpool-style recycling is when a plastic lid can be turned into a new bench, a tile, or even an architectural element. And these are not futuristic fantasies, but real technologies already being tested in the TRANSFORM-CE project. It is managed, in part, by researchers from the University of Liverpool, and it operates across several countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The core lies in two approaches. The first is familiar from the previous section: shredded plastic is fed into a 3D printer to make small items or components. The second is compression moulding, or roughly speaking, forcing mixed, often lower-grade plastic into large moulds. This is how, for instance, garden furniture or street furnishings are created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But a question immediately arises: what about household plastic \u2013 the kind left over from washing capsules or yogurts? Most of this packaging is still reluctantly accepted for recycling. At the municipal level, this depends on how sorting is organised and what raw material is deemed suitable. Liverpool is doing better than the national average in this regard, but it is unlikely that all types of plastic are recycled here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the idea of the &#8220;closed loop&#8221; is gradually moving from laboratories into the streets \u2013 with all the difficulties that come with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Business_and_the_City_Innovation_Hubs_and_New_Packaging\"><\/span>Business and the City: Innovation Hubs and New Packaging<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-25.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4033\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-25.png 650w, https:\/\/cdn.liverpoolname.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/image-25-300x212.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While students are assembling extruders, a serious facility is opening in Liverpool&#8217;s business centre \u2013 the Sustainable Packaging Centre. It was launched in Liverpool Science Park, and the project is run by the CPI organisation \u2013 something like a technology broker between science, manufacturing, and retail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why all this? To help companies switch from traditional packaging to recyclable or biodegradable alternatives. And most importantly \u2013 not just to replace one film with another, but to understand how that plastic behaves when attempts are made to reuse it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cCurrently, only 5% of plastic packaging in the UK is actually recycled,\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uk-cpi.com\/news\/our-new-sustainable-packaging-hub-in-liverpool-city-region\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">says<\/a> Darren Regeb from CPI. You have to admit, for a country with &#8220;green economy&#8221; ambitions, this seems somewhat inadequate. That is why Liverpool, with its scientific background and industrial sites, was chosen as the base for new experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Major brands have also joined the initiative. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/liverpool1.one\/en\/eternal\/the-history-of-the-unilever-port-sunlight-factory-near-birkenhead-3856\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Unilever<\/a> is testing packaging made from recycled HDPE \u2013 the same rigid plastic used for jerrycans, shampoo bottles, and cleaning agents. The goal is to learn how to incorporate secondary raw materials without compromising product quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The city also has a clear goal: to increase the recycling rate for municipal waste to 65% by 2035. It sounds great, but as for the implementation \u2013 time will tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Hinders_and_What_Helps_Scale_Ideas\"><\/span>What Hinders and What Helps Scale Ideas<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In every story of ecological breakthroughs, there comes a moment when one must honestly discuss the brakes. In this case \u2013 the things that prevent initiatives from moving beyond campuses and tech parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First: the quality of recycled plastic. If you think that a new bottle can be made from an old bottle \u2013 no, not always. The material loses some of its properties after the first cycle. And even if it is perfectly suitable for a bench, it may not always be suitable for food packaging. That is why large companies like Unilever are testing recipes and ratios to find the golden mean between eco-friendliness and functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second \u2013 the economics of the process. Collecting, sorting, washing, grinding, converting into something new \u2013 all this requires resources, people, and time. If you add to this the cost of equipment, it becomes clear why not every community is ready to launch a full cycle in its own district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And third \u2013 habit. The good old laziness to sort, ignorance of disposal rules, and sometimes the lack of infrastructure make even the best initiatives barely noticeable to the majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite everything, it is precisely these local engineering solutions that offer a chance that the future of plastic recycling will look like a network of compact, flexible platforms. And here, Liverpool is an excellent testing ground. If it works here \u2013 it can work anywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So much has been said about the plastic crisis that it seems there\u2019s nothing left to add. But a group of enthusiastic engineers is collecting used bottles, grinding them into something resembling coloured shavings, and then printing new items from the result. Not in a factory \u2013 but on campus. The website liverpoolname.com discovered this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":4003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334],"tags":[2986,2994,2990,2996,2992,2988,2987,2995,2989,2985],"moimportance":[33],"motype":[325],"moformat":[459],"class_list":{"0":"post-4026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-engineering-solutions","8":"tag-3d-printing-from-plastic","9":"tag-campus-eco-projects","10":"tag-circular-economy","11":"tag-cpi-liverpool","12":"tag-intrusion-extrusion-moulding","13":"tag-plastic-packaging","14":"tag-plastic-recycling-liverpool","15":"tag-sustainable-packaging-hub","16":"tag-university-of-liverpool","17":"tag-waste-plastic-extruder","18":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory","19":"motype-eternal","20":"moformat-c-l"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4036,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026\/revisions\/4036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4026"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=4026"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=4026"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liverpoolname.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=4026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}