This company recycles the polymers around us into a useful thing. Let’s explore more. Recycling does not usually imply chemically separating things into component pieces or giving an old object a new lease on life. An LA-based business is demonstrating that landfills do not need to be mined for plastics if enough of them are mashed together into a Minecraft-like block.
Since the company’s inception, 103 tonnes of nonrecyclable plastics have been prevented from entombment, all thanks to ByFusion’s proprietary equipment known as “Blockers.” Blockers feature a simple but clever design. They shred the plastic and then repeatedly apply mass multiplied by acceleration to the “non-recyclable plastic” until it ignites.
Composite plastics have greatly improved the global level of living, yet they are frequently unrecyclable.
Many researchers are working on thermal or chemical techniques of separating the polymers in these materials so that they can be recycled. By removing the intermediary and simply transforming the material as-is into a new, composite, and incredibly durable construction block, ByFusion has avoided this difficulty.
ByBlocks are a simple 16x8x8 shape that can be used to make bus stops, fences, retaining walls, and curtain walls. ByFusion’s full-service operation in Los Angeles can process 450 tonnes of plastic per year into blocks, and the company hopes to install 12 more Blockers soon.
They have collaborated with towns around the country, from Kauai, Hawaii, to Boise, Idaho, to get as many blockers into the hands of people who wish to use them as possible.
The Blockers’ indiscriminate nature is a significant advantage; they convert any type of plastic, even fishing nets, into blocks with the same material qualities. Polystyrene and Styrofoam are the only materials they cannot work with.
There isn’t a single ounce of adhesive glue, cement, or other extraneous item used. If 22 pounds of plastic are put in, a 22-pound block is produced.
The machines are available in two sizes: one for industry and one for the community. The latter is delivered in a shipping container, and the former includes a variety of blockers for companies that generate a lot of plastic garbage.
