NEW PLASTIC RECYCLING ADVENTURES

Manufacturing from locally collected plastic, alongside unique workshops and pop-up interventions to transform our relationship with plastic.

We clean, shred and make new stuff out of waste plastic from our workshop in Great Yarmouth, where we also offer public workshops on plastic recycling techniques. We can also pop-up anywhere with our Litter Arcade for events and festivals, and our pop-up Mend & Makery bringing repair, plastic recycling and making to any setting (no power source required).

OUR PRECIOUS PLASTIC ROOTS

Our plastic recycling workshop is built on the plans, experience and shared knowledge of the Precious Plastic community. Our Precious Plastic style project is one of over 400 globally. We were not the originators, though we know people in many other projects and benefit from the wisdom, experience and experiments of the global community.

Who are we?

Wastesmiths, trading as Precious Plastic East, runs a small coastal recycling workshop in Great Yarmouth recycling local waste plastic from businesses, residents and beach cleans.Video created by FACET to share the local impact of their support. Shot and edited by Shaun Lawson: www.shaunlawson.video

Set-up in March 2022, Wastesmiths trades as Precious Plastic East and operates out of a space in north Yarmouth. We clean, shred and injection mould the plastic we collect all in our all singing all dancing workshop built using Precious Plastic blueprints. All the plastic used is either post-consumer waste or plastic retrieved from the sea on local beach cleans.

Wastesmiths CIC is a social enterprise and operates for purpose rather than profits. Any surplus funds it generates from trading are reinvested into achieving its aim of reducing the amount of plastic waste that ends up in landfill and the sea.

We incorporated on 7th March 2022 and started trading in the 2022/23 financial year. We chose to set up as a Community Interest Company because the drive behind our organisation is purpose rather than profit. We took on the lease of our workshop in May 2022 and had it fully operational by August, offering the capacity to clean, shred and manufacture from the plastic we collect in three ways: injection moulding, extrusion and low tech plastic smithing.

FACET. This project was focused on supporting circular economy solutions to coastal waste. The support of the local FACET team and the Norfolk County Council recycling team was invaluable in enabling us to set up quickly, comply with environmental regulations and establish vital links.

So what does our recycling process look like? How do we find ways to recycle things that aren’t generally being recycled. It all starts with some very hands on prototyping with the material in question. Here’s a video of prototyping with ocean rope.

On 11th February 2023 we launched our second iteration of our Plastic Museum of the Future at Norwich Science Festival in Chantry Place. The video below give you a brief look at the exhibit.