This company replicated a cotton candy machine to recycle plastic

Brut America

No, this isn't cotton candy … but recycled plastic waste.   Here's how they got the idea.

Transcript

00:00It started as a simple student concept, thinking about a candy floss machine, and today we

00:09have the amazing and rewarding opportunity to actually have a real positive impact.

00:16It's been used to recycle approximately one ton of waste plastic and then sent to Syria

00:22to insulate 15 houses in a refugee camp there.

00:26Hi, my name is Audrey, with my colleagues Nick, Emile and Christophe, we invented the

00:30Poly Floss Factory.

00:32We wanted to create foam out of plastic waste in order to put into cushions or into sofas,

00:39but when we were trying to make foam with foaming agents, it was very difficult to control,

00:45it was burning, and this is when we had this idea of getting inspired by the candy floss

00:50process and we started making prototypes to make candy floss machines for thermoplastics.

00:57Our first candy floss machine was pretty simple, a drill, a welding tool, and a piece of coke

01:02can.

01:03It didn't work.

01:04The second iteration was better.

01:14This is our machine, it's very simple to use.

01:16We have here a hopper where you put the grounded plastic, it is preheated and melted, extruded

01:24by centrifugation, it creates like small droplets that are then extended with a flow of air

01:30coming from this blower here.

01:32We collect the floss in these huge entangled fibers.

01:39Of course, for security reasons, you would need to wear a mask and some gloves, but everything

01:44is easy to use and to maintain.

01:49In 2018, we've been approached by several NGOs asking about our technology and material,

01:55if there was some potential to recycle waste in refugee camps and turn it into insulative

02:00material.

02:01The number of the people in the camps can vary from 300 to 10,000 or more, and the winter

02:08there can be very harsh with temperature down to minus 5, minus 10, and their housing

02:14has a little insulation from the cold.

02:18Also, there is no waste recycling in the camps.

02:21There is only what is called waste removal.

02:25If we can solve both these problems, it would be great.

02:29We can use it as a textile, so we can weave it, we can felt it, we can knit it, and this

02:36allows a lot of different applications.

02:39But when we start manufacturing these, we realize as well that it's very insulative,

02:45a bit like glass wool.

02:46Now, we've used this machine, we've sent this machine to Gaziantep at the Syrian border.

02:52Today, we are walking toward the GESOF workshop.

02:56Our polyfloss machine has freshly arrived to Gaziantep, so we are very excited to see it.

03:06Currently, we are developing a lightweight, durable material we are using for insulation

03:23panels and sleeping bags that can then be distributed to refugees by the NGOs.

03:31We installed panels to the exterior of houses on northwest Syria as a first trial.

03:36It's been used to recycle approximately one ton of waste plastic and then sent to Syria

03:43to insulate 15 houses in refugee camps there.

03:49Our future aim is to directly use recycled plastic from the camps in Syria.

03:54From this successful first field test, we are now planning different applications of

04:02this insulation in different parts of the world, not only in Syria, but also in Africa,

04:08in Asia, like Nepal, and we are excited to say that we hope to make a big impact.

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