Material Investigation
Recycled Plastic-
HDPE and Acrylics
United Kingdom, 2022.
Recycling Process of HDPE,
extended from art direction project Sense the Nature.
This section is extended from the project Sense the Nature. The project aimed to deliver the message of environmental urgency, showcasing the delicacy and the fragility of nature by creating a sculpture made of recycled plastic. (Picture below)
Sense the Nature,
a sculpture made of 100% recycled plastic, with 100% unsustainable recycling process.
The process of recycling presents a false sense of a solution to the environmental crisis, which makes people overlook the fact that recycling itself can be a cause of other environmental problems.
Here, we will go through the full recycling process of HDPE plastic, and have a deeper discussion about the problems of recycling and sustainable future.
Natural Concern x Recycled Human Waste
Sense the Nature is a project built in an iconic tone, considering the interesting opposition of the topic and the material, I focused on plastic recycling, such as recycled acrylic and HDPE, and explored its possible application.
HDPE (High-density polyethylene) is commonly used to make bottles for milk, water or chemicals, the bottle caps and even furniture. Ascribed to the advantage of its cost-effectiveness, light- weighting and UV resistance, HDPE is one of the most recyclable plastics in the world, which can be used continuously until eventually being recycled. Shredded HDPE can be pressed into “new” plastic sheets by heating, and a recycled HDPE has proven almost as versatile as its initial counterpart.
Recycled HDPE pieces mixed with shells and heated HDPE pebbles and strips.
HDPE plastic Recycling
and Manufacturing Process
The pressed HDPE sheet displayed a random pattern that always surprised the maker. The nearly uncontrollable feature of the material gave the set an organic aesthetic, and forced the designer to surrender half of the control of their work to the material.
The HDPE is a highly flammable plastic that is usually blow-moulded, it poses a high flexibility under the heat, which makes it sticky and appears to be transparent like glass. The material can be cooled down within 30 seconds after leaving the oven or distanced from the heating gun. However, heated HDPE releases toxic chemicals in the air, causing ambient air pollution.
The Waste and Pollution
The waste from the making process of the project is usually heated materials or microplastics which break down into small fragments that can no longer be recycled again. The plastic can pollute ecosystems and harm organisms, including humans ourselves.
The making process required a huge consume of energy. The burned plastic released toxic chemicals into the air causing ambient air pollution. Thus, the aspirator was always on and I needed to wear a heavy respirator, which, ironically, produces more carbon emissions whether during their use or when the product was manufactured.
One milk bottle cap ( R18mm) can only shred into a small amount of plastic flakes. A whole HDPE plastic sheet ( H480mm W280mm D25mm) requires a large amount of milk bottles and bottle caps, not to mention how much carbon emissions were produced from the whole recycling and manufacturing process.
My research has been concerned with recycled material, and I'm currently exploring circular materials, looking at the different effects of recycled HDPE going through multiple recycling cycles.
Get in touch to collaborate or find out more.
Material Future
As the ecosystems nurture the necessities for our living, what can we provide in return? Holding this perspective, I tried to consider my work as an extension of the discussion. As reflected from my project, in spite of the fact that the sculpture itself was made out of recycled plastics, it is not truly sustainable, because the energy that goes into it requires unsustainable methodologies. The scale and scope of human activities in terms of our economic demand are the real decisive factors toward a sustainable future, and the amount of energy and natural resources required during recycling is considered to be another industrial manufacturing process. How can we achieve the seemingly impossible promise of zero-waste?
Recycle is NOT the answer.
Let's Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
The left part of the recycled HDPE sheet was made from the HDPE flakes that have been through a second cycle of granulation and press (picture below), while the right part of the sheet was made from the first-round HDPE flakes.
The first-round recycled HDPE sheet made from the HDPE flakes.
The recycled HDPE that had been heated and formed into another shape.