Georgia Tech’s Trash Lab turns plastic waste into reusable materials

Georgia Tech recently opened its Trash Lab, a makerspace dedicated to reusing plastic and reducing waste in landfills. 

Although recycling plastic food containers and water bottles is the goal, not all of it gets recycled.

Michael Best, the executive director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for People and Technology, said the issue is what happens to the plastic containers once they are dropped in the recycling bin.

“Most of it doesn’t work,” Best said. “A large percentage of stuff that you threw into that bin never made it into some recycling program and ended up in the landfill anyway.

Tim Trent, director of the Trash Lab, said they have a machine called a Trashpresso.

“This is the mini trash press,” said Tim Trent, director of the Trash Lab. “It’s sort of our keystone piece for the new Trash Lab.”

The Trashpresso shreds, cleans and transforms used plastic into a reusable substance. The ultimate goal of the Trash Lab is to create a circular system in which plastic is repeatedly used and reused.