Engaging with education Rethinking plastic bottle recycling
A recent design challenge invited students across of Warwickshire to participate in reimagining how we recycle plastic bottles, inspired by the invention of Bottld which is an innovative recycling machine aimed at making plastic recycling more convenient, accessible, and automatic. The challenge stemmed from a pressing environmental concern: the UK consumes an estimated 31 billion single-use drinks containers annually, including 12 billion plastic bottles. Despite growing awareness around recycling, actual recycling rates remained far from ideal. Much of the plastic waste destined for recycling was either incinerated, contributing to pollution or shipped abroad to countries with limited recycling infrastructure. This reality exposed a gap between awareness and action, prompting urgent innovation. The UK government, alongside DAERA in Northern Ireland, and the Scottish and Welsh governments, had expressed an ambition to boost recycling rates to at least 90% through the implementation of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Under this initiative, consumers would pay a small deposit on drink containers, reclaimable upon return. However, the system still relied on complex logistics and carbon-heavy transportation. Enter Bottld. Designed by Christophe Convert, a seasoned design engineer and founder
of Convert Design Ltd, Bottld was conceived after Christophe visited a local waste sorting facility. Disturbed by how much plastic waste ended up in landfills or incinerators, he was inspired to create a machine that addressed these inefficiencies head-on. His research into existing reverse vending machines revealed
56 Machinery & Manufacturing
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