AFRICA: 3D printing to convert plastic waste into farming implements
Three countries in Africa are currently benefiting from an international project. The Circular Plastics Project (CPPPP) effort includes collecting and converting plastic waste into agricultural implements utilizing 3D printing in low- and medium-income nations. The initiative is led by experts from the University of Loughborough, England.
Plastic pollution is a worry in Africa. The “Circular Plastics Project” is one of the solutions presented to this problem. The effort seeks to recycle materials from plastic garbage gathered in low- and middle-income nations, primarily on the African continent. Three African countries are collaborators for the initiative at this time, according to academics at Loughborough University (England). Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria are among them.
Although Rwanda is well underway in plastic management, with Law 17/2019, enacting in 2019, prohibiting the manufacture, importation, use and sale of plastic carrier bags and plastic goods for single use, this is far from being the situation in Nigeria and Kenya. Nigeria has discharged almost 200,000 tonnes, according to the World Economic Forum, of plastic garbage into the ocean in 2018, although its yearly production of plastic is predicted to reach 523,000 tons by 2022. In Kenya alone, Nairobi produces 2 400 tonnes, 20% plastic, of solid garbage every day.
The plastic waste collected is turned into convertible filaments and printed (dimensional) 3D into six agricultural instruments, including a fruit picker and a fish breeding system. These systems are already employed by farmers and their efficiency is supposed to be increased. The UK researchers also create sand dredging adapters, non-electric milk refrigerators and machete peelers and a bulb for recycling ships which may use wave movements to pump water, according to D Printing industry (3DPI).
The Circular Plastics Project is aligned with two projects, the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge (SSPP) and the PPFTG, which promote the use of ‘smart technology’ in order to alleviate waste problems worldwide. Researchers at Loughborough University are also implementing these strategies.
