Mid-Life Birthday Fundraiser to Buy Recycling Equipment

Once upon a time, there was a girl who spent a lot of time cleaning up beaches and coastal areas with her parents. She grew up to teach her son and other youth the same. Instead of just throwing the items in the trash, she wondered if there might be some way they could recycle them into something useful.

Upon a visit to a local trash pickup organization with her son, she learned about a machine made in the UK that could do just that. After cleanups, this organization sorts the plastic materials and makes them into molds they then sell to fundraise their activities. The machine was large, and would require engineering skills she lacked, so was not going to be feasible for her. But she didn't give up.

Fast forward three years, and the same company that made that machine has now made an "education" model, one that is slightly smaller, pre-built, and with possibly dummy-proof instructions to be set up stateside. Of course, this comes at a great cost, nearly $4000 for the machinery (which includes the injector and fume extractor, then have to get an air compressor locally), molds, and necessary safety gear plus shipping.

Two grants so far have been written, and so far, not approved. Grant applications take months to find out if you are selected, and quite honestly, it could be a year or so before that kind of funding becomes available for a project like this.

So, how does this work exactly?

The idea is that after a coastal cleanup (which I am leading a couple times each year now), items would be brought back that could be cleaned and put into the injector. We can then make some useful items so youth can have a takeaway from their cleanup, such as a challenge "coin," carabiner, or some other gear-type piece to serve as a reminder while at the same time, keeping plastics out of our landfills.

I'm making use of a lot of items I have on hand for being able to set up, but this actual equipment is what I'm currently lacking. Even $5 could be helpful towards meeting this goal to getting this purchased.

It's a big ask, but I'm a dreamer for a reason. Thanks for your consideration. If it helps, February is my 46th birthday, so you could kind of consider this a contribution to my mid-life crisis, which I'll probably keep having for a few years to come.

The items in the picture were all made with that injector. Unfortunately, most of those molds are around $300+ each, so I'm starting with just two cheaper ones that would allow for us to have a starting point with a couple of items until I have funding to do more.

To learn more about the machine and what it does Click Here