A.M. Hicks
Lasso Loop Recycling LLC,
United States
Keywords: efficiency, contamination, high-purity, financially self sustaining, environmentally viable
Summary:
Advanced manufacturing requires high-purity to exact specification inputs. For recycling processes to be viable they must match these requirements and deliver the quality inputs at a competitive price. An efficient and viable recycling system that delivers the required quality and price of advanced manufacturing inputs must optimize purity and minimize contamination. The start of any recycling process is with a single used container or item in a human's hand. This container or item is already at a high state of purity. It has a minimal amount of contamination. Therefore a purity optimizing recycling process starts with this used item and improves its purity by reducing its contamination to near zero is as soon as possible. This alternative recycling concept is the opposite of the existing curbside recycling system which optimizes for volume throughput and collection cost minimization. After decades of development and operation, the current supply of inputs into advanced manufacturing sourced from the current recycling system is very low. The historical performance improvement must spike dramatically in the coming years if there is to be any change in this failed outcome. The description of a recycling process, which works on a per used container or per item basis, is the subject of this presentation. The recycling process will deliver high-purity high-value competitively-priced inputs to advanced manufacturing. No two used containers or items made of a different substance or the same substance with a different color will be allowed to come together. The recycling process starts with a human loading a single used relatively high-purity item input into a piece of equipment or appliance. The unit's first function is to identify the substance and color of the item. This is performed in a sensor chamber. Then processing further reduces the low starting contamination and reduces material volume significantly for space-efficient separate storage at the bottom of the unit. An cost efficient on-demand at-home collection system will guarantee product purity all the way along the short and direct supply chain. This system is transporting valuable products direct to advanced manufacturers. Process flow diagrams will show how this recycling system reduces process steps and human touch points by a factor of six (6). An added benefit is how the system dramatically reduces the production of microplastics. An positive outcome is a very much safer recycling system. Only a relative small portion of the financial value of a used container or used item is in the material. In this presentation, the other value drivers will be described. These value drivers underpin the ability of this recycling system to deliver competitive pricing for advanced manufacturing inputs in comparison to those currently supplied from virgin material sources. This recycling system closed loop recycles and therefore it is a system which contributes directly to the planets must have future circular economy. The system empowers householders to both contribute to and benefit from the circular economy.