Making new things from old
Dec. 3—In six years, reTHink, Inc. has grown from an environmental organization that had planted a few small community gardens to a nonprofit with its own zero-waste store and a space to upcycle hazardous plastic products and create its own products created from recycled plastic.
reTHink introduced its upcycling equipment to the public Thursday in a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett and City Council members Todd Nation and Martha Crossen, as well as other sponsors and luminaries. The ribbon — fashioned from used plastic bags — was snipped by four Green Queens, winners of environmentally themed style shows.
Shikha Bhattacharyya, reTHink, Inc. executive director, reTHink Board President Rebecca Bercich and upcycling program manager Meagan Monds showed off and demonstrated the shredder, which dissects plastic into smaller bits that can be used by a separate machine, the extruder, which melts the chips down at 260 degrees Celsius and pushes them inside a variety of molds to be made into different shapes. A plastic 2x4, for example, can be made from 110 milk jugs. There are benches in 12 Points that have been made from recycled plastic.
"We're not at full speed yet, but I'm a maker at heart, so this tickles my fancy," said Bercich, who is also a Rose-Hulman engineering instructor. "It's been great, because I've got students who are very interested in manufacturing and the intersection of engineering and art, so this really works on all levels. They can come in here and be creative and learn about manufacturing at the same time."
And the process to acquire the upcycling technology began but a year ago.
"It feels really amazing," Bhattacharyya said. "It's frustrating at times — it feels like we're not moving as fast or doing as much as we want to, but if you look at the big picture, just yesterday I thought, 'Omigod, it's only been a little over one year.' "
A sheet metal press was recently acquired; one of its first functions will be to help build a wheelchair ramp to access the zero-waste store.
Deanna Garner, the recycling market development program manager for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, said the state was currently at a 19% recycling rate, with a goal of reaching a 50% recycling rate. Bhattacharyya said Indiana had surpassed the national level of 9%, and pointed out that every minute of every single day, a garbage truck's worth of plastic is dumped in the ocean.
reTHink invites anyone in the community to come see the upcycling process — and even be trained to participate in it themselves.
"The space is in a really good place to welcome people," Bercich said. "We want to get people in here — working with the material teaches you so much about recycling and the kind of mess we're making with plastic, but also because it is a good creative outlet and good for the community to come together and share ideas. We want to train people to use the equipment and make it more accessible to people."
"We want to make this a community workspace because it would be really awesome if we could encourage entrepreneurs to use recycled plastics to make their products," added Monds, whose thesis as a grad student at Indiana State University was on sustainability. "Opening this up for everyone to use is our goal."
"We are continuously welcoming whoever walks in and shows an interest in learning about the process and the machines — everybody's welcome and encouraged," Bhattacharyya said.
Beginning Jan. 1, reTHink will accept plastic types 2, 4, 5 and 6 — those most conducive to upcycling — from the community. And Bercich reported that a deal is in the works for Terre Haute to once again be able to recycle glass.
"I hesitate to speak yet, but it is going to happen either here or at ISU," Bercich said. "We've been talking to Strategic Materials in Indy. It is viable — there's a market for recycled glass and it pays for itself."
The best part is that people who drop off their glass won't have to sort it out. "It can be mixed color and doesn't have to be clean or label-free — I [told Strategic Materials], 'You're checking all our boxes.'" The glass will be made into insulation and fiberglass that will stay in Indiana.
In the meantime, reTHink's zero-waste store is selling items created on-site, such as coasters and keychains. "We've come very far from where we started, but there is still a long way to go," Bhattacharyya said. "It would be nice to have a small production facility where we could be making items on a daily basis and providing items to the community."
David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.
