HDPE Plastic Recycling | To Usable Blocks
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- How To Recycle HDPE Plastic | To Usable Blocks
After collecting milk bottles for the last few months I show how I create a usable block of HDPE (high-density polyethylene)
Melting HDPE at home is incredibly easy and can be formed into shapes or molds with the ability to create new working materials that can be machined using traditional woodworking tools.
We live in a throwaway culture, so why not help the planet and do your bit to stop sea pollution by trying this out for yourself. You'll have a lot of fun making new things out of your own milk bottles.
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How To Recycle HDPE Plastic | To Usable Blocks
After collecting milk bottles for the last few months I show how I create a usable block of HDPE (high-density polyethylene)
Melting HDPE at home is incredibly easy and can be formed into shapes or molds with the ability to create new working materials that can be machined using traditional woodworking tools.
We live in a throwaway culture, so why not help the planet and do your bit to stop sea pollution by trying this out for yourself. You'll have a lot of fun making new things out of your own milk bottles.
▸ Support on Patreon! - www.patreon.com/WHCreations
▸ My Website - www.whcreations.co.uk
What the fuck do you mean you American people? As if there is something wrong with us!
Just kidding. I'm not one of the sensitive cunts. Love this video and thanks for the information.
I use Lubriplate, white lithium, mechanics assembly grease as a ‘wood’ mold release. When either HDPE and LDPE are cool, the plastic falls out. Your shop looks interesting. Stay awesome.
Hey Doug! Thanks for the tip I will certainly look into this! You too bud
I made a mold out of half inch and quarter inch plate aluminum. It's a great material because it's strong and you can use any woodworking tool to cut it. From there it's easy to drill and tap holes to hold it together. Then I just throw the whole thing in the oven and heat it up. It works great because the aluminum retains the heat for a bit while I get it clamped, then it acts as a heat sink when it's out of the oven to cool the hdpe. I did something similar with a bit of 2 inch threaded pipe to make a cylindrical mold that I can use for making things I can turn on the lathe. Great vid!
An AWESOME resource for HDPE for recycling that I rarely hear people mention is used/destroyed/old/trashed/etc gas/petrol cans. They're 1/8"-5/16" thick.
Awsome Vid, liked and subscribed, love British DIYs something about them makes me happy.
Hey man, i recommend you to buy a cheap aluminum tray and use just that, it usually peels of easy and you don't have to use that paper that sometimes sticks, at least for me it was a nightmare, all the time it glued to the plastic leaving a horrible look. Also if after a good time it stills hot it means you got a great pressure!, since the heat could not scape. If you cut it in the middle to 'glue' them together, you could use that tray but not in the oven, put it on the stoove on medium to low heat and place both of the faces you whant to fuse there for a while and keep an aye out, after a while both sides should be soft enough that by putting them face to face and giving it some pressure (nothing crazy), it will bond like a solid piece again. Great video and keep creating! :D
Thank you Victor that was great info!
Hope i helped mate!
@jackbrunacini@gmail.com Yes as long as the metal is thick enough to not get deformed
Nice video. Thanks for sharing. But I'd never do such a thing in an oven which later on will be used for making meals and cakes.
He is at 170C that should technically be below temperature for releasing toxic gases, but yes you're right lol. Best practices kind of thing
You drink milk from materials that contain toxic substances?
@@836dmar No, I don't. Firstly, I don't drink milk at all. Secondly, milk is not packed in HDPE containers in my country, as far as I know.
But I don't know if it is proven if HDPE containers contain toxic substances that are released under normal circumstances.
When you burn HDPE, then yes, or when you heat it up too much. But I think that is the case for most packaging materials.
@@hansdegroot8549 I melted a 5 gallon container today of white HDPE. At 300F it smelled like wax. Not sure if it was toxic at all but it wasn’t really bothersome I know that. That was a lot more efficient than melting down individual milk containers used here in the US.
@@836dmar Did you cut the hdpe in smaller pieces? I don't know how much 300F is.
Saving my containers and tops for a go at this eventually! I'm going to possibly use a metal mold...even more convinced after seeing your mdf mold bulging! Thanks for the upload. :)
Yeah metal is the way forward but for the time being met did work well
Where did u get ur metal mold
Great! Thank you!
Great video mate been thinking of playing with hdpe myself can't wait for the next one
Thanks mate! Yeah it's handy stuff. Let's see what I can come up with eh
Look forward to seeing this series its great stuff and a great use of packaging. Thanks for sharing :-)
Thanks Pam I took the idea originally watching your video. I made the pen bushings too
Looks pretty good to me
Yeah great vid, heat retention is related to the material density (Thermal Mass)
There is a commercial brick made from recycled plastic now being sold for use in homes instead of a light weight building blocks, the benefits are hugely improved insulation.
Now all you need is to get your whole street to donate their milk bottles a wood chipper & 2nd hand washing machine to wash the plastic and you can insulate your shed with your bricks :) Or buy a 1000Kg of the stuff from the council..
Top work
The possibilities around this is awesome! I love seeing how people put it to such good use instead of it ending up in the ground of water systems. I myself won't be continuing this, but I would highly recommend brothers make, who are doing incredible work using recycled plastics
@@WHCreations As you said so many possibilities, imagine HDPE thermal cladding? Or over cold floors
Someone somewhere will be buying up the HDPE making it harder for the little guy I suspect :(
@@dmbrookfield as long as people turn it into something awesome and saves it from landfill or the ocean, then humanity is winning
Thank you for posting! Also thanks for all the links to the various resources.
Thank you
Doesn't the plastic emit fumes during the process? A lot of this stuff may have been treated with other chemicals with lower melting, decomposition or vaporizing points than the plastic itself. Is anything coating your oven after you do this?
No fumes as not hot enough. Just the melting point. Nothing inside oven whatsoever
Informative and helpful video and nicely videographed as well. thank you!
Thank you, very kind
I enjoyed the word bloody boiling lol
So good💚🇸🇦🇸🇦🇬🇧
For an FYI here, HDPE weighs just under a gram per cubic centimeter or just over half an ounce per cubic inch.
So, do the maths on how big your block will be and you can weigh your scraps to find out if you have enough.
Good tip
@@ashwinpatel7410 it would be about 75 ounces or just about 2 kilos if you think in meteric.
I'm concerned about the grease & fat from the milk preventing homogenous melting together of the various HDPE container snippets. That would mean that despite no air pockets, one HDPE blob from a container snippet wouldn't mix completely with another blob from another container snippet. Did you use something to combat the milk fat/grease? Did you thoroughly wash the milk containers? What went into the preparation of the raw HDPE prior to melting? Great video and I'm envious of your workshop! All the best, Rob
Hey Rob. That's a very good point you've made and something I never even thought about showing in the video. In regards to the residue within the bottles know that they are washed thoroughly and left to air dry. In regards to oils etc I am a little unsure. The hdpe is technically a hard oil and therefore would be unsure as to how other contaminates would effect the overall outcome. I would point out however that these have had all their labels, ink prints and glue removed. Thanks 😊
maybe you can add some waste oil and got uniform result
Great work!! I really appreciate it
This guys has bigger biceps than the Rock?!
🤣
Make a hdpd sled for the snow
You can make ar-15 lowers with this stuff and body armor
You can, but idk if a ar-15 gets very hot it could deform/melt, idk, there is a dude whom made hdpe body armor, its not perfect but it works OK for smaller calibers, there is a video here on yt
stick some rebar and give the lumber boys a run for their money mate,That's what I'm doing, but I'm having a heck of a time trying to get enough plastic for a 4 foot mold to begin with. ( a sixteen foot 4X6 mold with rebar is the goal mate )
Why not post on local groups asking for people to save your their milk cartons etc. At the time of the video my dad even got on the bandwagon and was going to their neighbours asking for their plastic. Precious plastics ended up making usable planks from the plastic, which would be ideal for furniture making. I would love to have a go at it, but its a lot of money to throw at a project.
I think you can go to 300° c (if your oven can handle it) to get a far more liquid shot. I'm under the impression that there aren't any toxic gases to worry about as long as you're in a ventilated space and not gulping in lungfulls of the stuff, ie. Using common sense ( not very common tho)...
can't wait for the next video. :=)
Thanks mate!
Do you have any idea of how much HDPE it took to make that block? Probably just knowing the weight of the block would help.
I've been cutting up HDPE milk cartons and the pile doesn't seem to grow nearly fast enough. : )
Hey Brant. In my latest hdpe video I think we used roughly around 1kg of plastic. You'll be surprised by how much you'll need to make a blank the size I did. Seeing as I have 2 young children I seem to go through milk like I should have shares in it, but also make sure you check out your other good too. Shampoo/hand wash bottles etc are all hdpe. Just make sure it has a 2 in the triangle and washed out sufficiently and you'll be golden. Hope that helps you out!
Thanks so much for your reply! I will start looking at every bottle to check if it is HDPE. I want to make some sliding parts to fit within the dovetail slots of my table saw. I am trying to avoid buying another expensive sheet of the HDPE. Tell my cow buddies to keep pumping out the milk! : )
Haha. If you're in the UK the pound shops sell hdpe cutting boards. Failing that just make sure you keep the heated plastic under pressure. If you check my new video I kept tightening it every 30mins or so.
Thanks for writing back. I am in the US. We have some of those cutting boards here, too. You have be careful on some of the cutting boards as the HDPE is sometimes just a thin skin over a piece of fiberboard. (Some here call fiberboard "termite barf". I like that!) I really need to check your other videos.
If you happen to know a car mechanic or any place like that, those motor oil containers are made of HDPE, thats how i got literally a box full of it, since the mechanic uses them daily, the only problem is that is really annoying to clean up.
I always make a mold by leaving my leftovers in the fridge too long.
Great work!
Btw is it safe/don't have any health risk on the of the oven after use for this project?
Hi, as i have spoken before about this in other comments, as long as the temperature is kept low enough then no fumes or gasses are released. just take it steady.
“What are we having for dinner honey?”
I dont know sweetheart, what you making?
How many degrees did you put it in the oven?
All the other videos says 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes
has anyone tried to dye hdpe ? i need a black block but cant find black hdpe so i thought i can dye the white melted milk bottles
I suspect it can be done, just has to be worked it very well. Good luck with it
I love your video! I am wondering what can this block you just made do?thanks
It can then be made into anything you want. Big scale, it can be made into bricks, fence posts, chairs. Small scale, cutting boards, molds etc. The options available are endless.
"this is how I melt hache-DPE
lol you'll only see some of us Brits pronouncing it that way.
If you think about it, the Murkin way ('aitch')doesn't actually have an "h" in its pronunciation.
try a glass dish spray with cooking spray not to stick
Ok thanks!
Hi will the HDPE release toxic or harmful Fumes in the oven and will it be safe to cook food in the oven after melting HDPE?
If you keep the heat low then yes its safe. You could buy a small oven which you could dedicate to the melting if you didnt want to use your own oven.
Hey. Nice tail vice.
Also does melting this kind of plastic make any smoke? I'd be very worried about breathing it in
Well, of course you would!
It releases gasses if it gets too hot. I think 350 F is the highest you should go but Google it to be sure
What happens if you use sun-damaged HDPE 5 gallon buckets ? Does the UV damage sort of go away when you re-melt it ? I have a few cubic feet of clean brittle HDPE I would be happy to send you. Then after melting it would be interesting to see if it has "recovered" from being brittle.
Hi Roger, thank you for the offer, that's very kind of you. Unfortunately, I don't tend to use my hdpe anymore due to being unable to get a uniform finish. Appreciate you taking the time to comment though!
Pierre Cardin? How old is that shirt?😂 Btw...that cheap pierre cardin cologne is still one of my favs after all these years😂
Damn I didnt realise I was on the cat walk! Better up my game and start taking them weight loss tabs
It’s been close to 40 years that I HAD to have a Pierre Cardin belt.
Hey, thanks for the video.
Can we use this method to prove that this plastic block is much stronger than concrete block in construction field ?
Please answer this, we need to prepare a byblock for our project.
Feel free to make the block yourselves and test it however you see fit.
@@WHCreationsyeah I'll definitely make a try .. may I know the purpose of, u making this block ?
To make a video. I did have hopes to make things from it but I never got round to it.
Good job👍👍
Can i ush pla from 3d printer of perfect fileament??
I'm not sure about that im afraid
Nice video.... 2020 has been a horrible year with the lack of available materials for creative recycling.. and melting HDPE looks like a possible way to get around the shortages.. just have to remember the upper temperature limitations
I wanted to try and make a piece of furniture using only hdpe. The cost for such materials was astronomical and just wouldn't have been feasible. One day maybe
Please show us how to make plastic fencing post, use plastic carry bag as raw material
🤣
Would a block that size support a trolling motor ? Without breaking ?
Sorry, no idea what that is
Any idea what the results would be like for molding vs. carving? Think you could eliminate the air pocket issue with a crucible-style melt and pour? Or does the plastic degrade at too high of a temp/in a liquid form?
Cheers.
To be fair I'm no expert at this. Alot of the info is what I've picked up through research or other similar videos. I believe cooking at too higher temperatures can produce a dangers gas of some sort but cooking at the lower temperature you'll be good to go. I hope this helps 😊
WH Creations much appreciated, cheers.
❤️❤️❤️
Can this stuff be heated up to a nice liquid state?
No, would be nice though!
we tried the same procedure only that the plastics are not melting at all, what's the reason behind this?
plus, is putting the hdpe plastics by batch? what would happen if we put all the plastic all at once?
Hi, I would say the temperature isn't high enough or you are not leaving it long enough to get to temperature. In regards to putting all the plastics in at once you will be greatly increasing the time it will have to remain in the oven and also you may get more air bubbles.
I tried this in Dublin. Put the cut up bits of HDPE on an oven tray and set the temperature to 170c . 30 mins later it was barely melted . Also my wife asked me what the smell wqs. Left it for another few mins. Turned oven up to 200 for 2/3 mins Still Could not mould it as it was not soft enough. Threw it in the bin . What did I do wrong ???
Are you sure it was HDPE? hdpe melts pretty easily and molds well. I dont know without standing next to you at the time what you did wrong I'm afraid.
I'm having a problem with it sticking to the parchment. It's even scorching the paper and I only started at 300-325 C (150-160 F). Do I need to buy more expensive parchment paper?
300C is over 570F. Are you sure you have that right?
170° Celcius buddy.. not 300°celcius
Sooo, how many times can you melt down this plastic? Does it degrade over time or can u melt it forever?
From what I know you can keep remelting it... as for forever I would have to wait for a cure for life to test that one out 😉
Yes it will weaken. 2-3 times is prob max if your looking for strength
I have to wonder if you have some German in you. You and I are built exactly the same; massive arms and a tummy to match. (I'm german-american fwiw)
🤣 thanks
Have you made anything from this Block ? Thank you
Hi Alex. I may a few things but nothing worthy of a video I'm afraid.
what is the size u used in the molder??? please answer
I'd love to answer but I don't understand your question
Whay do you call that brown plastic?
Parchment paper
Is it safe?
A low temperature yes
I don't recommend using your oven you use for food to do this. There is off gassing. I recommend doing this in a well ventilated place wearing a respirator. Use an old toaster oven, just not where you prep food.
Good advice 👍
Remember that the HDPE release some toxic fumes when melted.
At low temperatures it doesnt.
170 degrees science, not moon landing.
A dig at both Europeans and Americans in one dumb joke.
If I was u I put all these stuff not in my kitchen oven !! take another one juste for working
Good idea!!
I'm pretty sure the fumes from this are terrible for you. are you still alive?
Let me check...
See my reply above to Andrew Young’s comment. Both low and high density PE are purely composed of hydrogen and carbon atoms fully bound in a polymer structure which is very stable. Not normally any additives, especially in food grade like milk bottles etc. factories where hdpe is being blown or molded are not toxic zones. As long as you keep in the normal melting range you are fine. However, pvc, especially flexible pvc where plasticizers and other additives are present as well as chlorine atoms in the polymer is a very different story. Stay away from pvc.
Very uninformative
Forgot to mention the temperature in the oven.
Didn't explain why you didn't fill the tray the 1st time like you did the last time ?
Hi, I did mention the temperature it was 175°c. In regards to your next question I'm slightly confused by it, please explain in more detail or watch the video again as I do believe your questions are answered.
The reason why he did not fill the tray is because when it gets hot it also gets smaller, having too much can make air bubbles, and having too much takes longer to melt to a nice point since all the pieces are layering each other, its not a fast process you need to be patient with it