Recycling
The Eco Crab Way
Collect the Plastic
Christmas Island is heavily affected by ocean plastic washing up on our beaches. Estimated at 25,000 plastic items per km, our beaches provide an endless source of plastic that we do our best to return to the circular economy.
Ocean plastic is very hard to recycle due to the difficulty identifying the plastic type, the work needed to clean it and the very variable quality level.
Separate
Separate out the plastic from other recyclable material.
Waste products collected from the beach are often mixed bags full of plastic, metal, flip flops, sand and all kinds of items that should not be on the beach.
We have to manually separate recyclable items from the rest, doing as much as we can to avoid just sending more to the rubbish dump.
Wash
Once we have the plastic separated from the other items, we have to wash it to remove impurities such as sand, oils and the sticky labels in order to make the item usable for a recycled product.
This step is highly intensive and requires a lot of elbow grease and patience to ensure the items are clean.
Sort
Once the plastic is clean, we sort the plastic into the different types of plastic and then by colour.
This process is complicated by the fact that not all plastic has the required markings to show its type and many have had the marking abraded away through time and tides.
The most recyclable plastics are HDPE (Type 2), PP (Type 5) and PET (Type 1)
To find out more about the different types of plastic, head over to our plastic types page.
Shred
Using the Shredder or the Granulator, we shred the different coloured plastics into separate boxes so we can use them to customise the patterns on our products.
Design Your Mould
Using the shredded plastic, create a pattern for your mould to make a beautiful recycled product.
Melt and Mould
Melt the plastic in the mould by placing it in the oven, set to the correct temperature depending on the plastic type and once the plastic is melted, compress the mould to shape the plastic before allowing it to cool.
Once the plastic is sufficiently cooled, open up the mould and admire your results.
