'' Plastic is a global cancer, but it can still be precious. A process of physical transformation providing better impact on the environment ''
Yo Ciao Ciao SurfHive! Good morning all good? Today I'm going to share with you a project I carried out for the decentralized community
in partnership with 
The design and development of the product is the result of ETH financing promoted by community collaborators. In theory, it consists of manufacturing Noggles Recyclable Keychains. An upcycling process that encompasses a whole range of technological innovation but also attention to the environment.
The production of the noggles recycling keychains was an achievement coming from an open ecosystem, as is the work dynamics of Precious Plastic, leaving its data in Open Source so that more people can help against this problem called plastic. Likewise, I want to create this document here in Hive so that if anyone asks me exactly what the Process was like, I can send this text and still feed Hive a good example.
So before describing the process step by step, I will leave a brief explanation of why Upcycling is and why it is special.
What is Upcycling?
Upcycling transforms waste or unwanted products into new materials or items of higher value, quality, or utility. Unlike recycling, which typically breaks down materials to create new products of equal or lesser value, upcycling enhances the value of the original materials.
Differences between Upcycling and Recycling
Added Value:
Recycling: Transforms materials into products of similar or lesser value (downcycling). Example: Recycling plastic into lower-quality plastic items.
Upcycling: Creates products of higher value or quality from existing materials. Example: Turning wooden pallets into high-end furniture.Transformation Process:
Recycling: Involves breaking down materials into their basic forms before creating new products. This can include melting plastic, smelting metals, etc.
Upcycling: Maintains the integrity of the materials as much as possible, modifying them directly to create something new and better.Environmental Impact:
Recycling: Requires significant energy and resources to process materials, often generating carbon emissions.
Upcycling: Typically uses less energy, as it avoids extensive processing, resulting in a smaller environmental footprint.Creativity and Design:
Recycling: Focuses on recovering and reusing materials functionally.
Upcycling: Involves a creative and artistic aspect, often producing unique and innovative items.
How Upcycling Can Involve Blockchain:
- Traceability: Blockchain can track the origin of materials and the entire upcycling process, ensuring transparency and authenticity.
- Sustainability Certification:
Upcycled products can be certified and authenticated via blockchain, ensuring they meet certain environmental and ethical standards. - Circular Economy:Blockchain can facilitate a circular economy by connecting waste material providers with designers and manufacturers practicing upcycling.
- Tokenization and Incentives:Tokens can reward participants in the upcycling cycle, encouraging sustainable practices. For instance, consumers purchasing upcycled products or companies supplying waste for upcycling can earn tokens.
- Market and Trade:
Blockchain-based platforms can be created to market upcycled products, ensuring secure and transparent transactions.
Upcycling differs from recycling by adding value, using less energy, and involving creativity. When combined with blockchain technology, upcycling becomes even more powerful, promoting transparency, traceability, and sustainability. Integrating these practices can drive a more circular and conscious economy, offering innovative and sustainable solutions for consumption and production.
Step by Step
- 1: Full upcycling process where the plastic was taken and pressed into a type of sheet, remaining in a plate format, also acquiring a more lasting integrity in terms of resistance and contamination to the environment. Various black and white plastics were used to create a marbled effect, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE type 1, High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE type 2 and Polypropylene (PP) type 5, but this part of the process was carried out by Felipe. I'll share it below, but it was incredible!
2: Production of files in PDF or STL 3D format for future machining cutting. For this I took the opensource noggles from the nouns source and diagrammed it according to the size of the Plastic Plate that we got with Arte 8 Reciclagem. Seeking to make maximum use of the board while leaving a minimum of burrs.
3: Carry out a prototype test on the Noggles design, we did this on an ACM board to get an idea of the size and whether it was ideal to become the future keychain.
4: Positioning the plate on the CNC Router's cutting base, leaving 1cm or more depending on the screw positioned on the edge of the plastic plate, so that a collision does not occur and hurt or completely ruin the sensitive cutter that performs the cutting. This 1 cm was also considered when creating the mother file to make the cut.
5: Carrying out the cut after removing the prototype is a good adjustment of how much the cutter will "eat" of plastic based on the thickness of the plate, they vary from size to size and are often irregular at the edges. This is the segmental drawing of the geometric lines that the cutter will create, from end to end. It is interesting to analyze this technical layout so that during cutting we have more control over how the flow is at the beginning and end of machining. Once the Noggles are ready, it's time to put on the ring, to finally become a personalized keychain.
- 6: There are different ways to make a hole in an object in a Precious Plastic process, but the most common was the "Soldering iron" tool (Although traditionally used for soldering electronic components, this tool can also be adapted to melt and manipulate plastics). Where they are drilled with caution in order to create as little plastic sludge as possible.
- 7: Finishing with stylus or "fire", a process that often corrects a part of the plastic that suffered some major disturbance during the process.
Finally we come to the end of our beautiful, charming, marbled product that came from polluting plastics. These keychains were sent to surfers and athletes who supported the start of That's Gnarly, a project from GnarsDAO, where I had the honor of creating and executing it with the help of the Precious Plastic ES team who have been working for a longer time for a healthier planet. clean and less sick, in addition to being great Web 3 partners.
Recording for the Film De olinda 36, part of the Upcycling process with the company Item Filmes, Black Magic composition of microplastic
In parallel to this project, another friend, Mari, began producing glasses made from recyclable plastics, in partnership with Nouns and different Precious Plastic headquarters. Incredible. In the photo above, you can see Mari wearing one of her glasses at the Regen Meet Up in Rio de Janeiro Brazil this year, while wearing her Gnars ARDRP GURU Jacket that I was also able to develop throughout this project.
I hope you enjoyed the step-by-step content of the process and I hope I could have contributed in some way in terms of awareness, artistic development, web 3 and whatever else you want to add constructively. I thank all of you who made it to this part of the Reading.
Unity is strength, all together for a cleaner and more lovable planet. 🌎