Forum: sustainability.stackexchange.com
Tags: <recycling><diy><plastic>
Title: Can I recycle plastics at home by melting and molding?
Question: I would like to know if it is possible to recycle plastic at home by melting and molding.  Is it at all possible? What technique or technology do I need? Can it be done with any plastic? Are there health hazards associated to this activity?

Answers:
sents: text: I would like to know if it is possible to recycle plastic at home by melting and molding.
text: Yes it is possible.
text: One guy makes chairs out of melted plastic .
text: There are several guides on melting plastic that show up when you search google for it.
text: This one, on ehow shows how to melt plastic in a toaster oven.
text: Basically, wash the bottles, cut 'em into small manageable chunks and pop them in a metal container and into the oven at 350F.
text: It should take a few minutes for the plastic to melt.
text: As for molding them, I found a few guides - Molding plastics at home
text: How to produce small plastic parts at home A list of molding projects on a crafts site But remember, melting plastics will produce fumes which can be harmful if inhaled.
text: Make sure to melt them in a well ventilated area.
text: And if you're doing it in a room, it would be nice to have an exhaust fan in there.
text: Also, check out this guide on what the different rating numbers on the bottom of plastic bottles mean, specifically, what kinds of plastic a number refers to and whether or not it is safe to melt that plastic.
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/83/elssar
score: 32
sents: text: To contribute to the options offered by Elssar's answer, here is an interesting thing I read about just a few days ago: Filabot is a project of compact 3D printer that directly recycles plastic objects at home to create new shapes.
text: It was launched for funding on the 19th of December 2011 on Kickstarter and tripled its goal by the 23rd of January 2012.
text: Here is the homepage of the project: http://filabot.com/
text: They apparently shipped the devices to at least some of the project backers during 2013.
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/80/stragu
score: 17
sents: text: Even when melted/burned in a place with lots of ventilation, plastics can produce many toxic chemicals.
text: These are then breathed in or attach themselves to soil, where they can stay for years and years.
text: Therefore, I really wouldn't suggest trying to reuse plastics at home by melting or heating them, as the health implications can be really dangerous and damaging in the long run.
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/680/Beth
score: 11
sents: text: It depends on the plastic you're using.
text: Plastics often come in the thermoplastic and thermosetting categories.
text: If the plastic is a thermosetting plastic then it is not able to melted (Most, if not all thermosetting plastics burn rather than melt).
text: However, a thermoplastic plastic can be melted and remoulded as much as you want (quality of plastic is likely to degrade after each phase melting and remoulding however).
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/1161/user1161
score: 8
sents: text: Depending on the type of reshaping you are interested in, you can do basic crafts with the right kind of plastic by simply using a hairblower to heat them up and bending them into shape.
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/4159/Jennifer Rae Pierce
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
This is possible but it depends on the plastics. There may be health implications to melting or heating plastics. Basic crafts can involve heating the right kind of plastic with a hairdryer and bending the plastic into shape.
Much depends on the type of plastic and reshaping, though this may or may not be possible due to safety reasons.