With their strong passion and creativity, a group of students from the Da Nang University of Technology and Science has successfully created a mechanical system to turn plastic waste into useful products, proving that discarded waste is not always useless.

The students demonstrating their system

The students are: Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong from the Faculty of Environmental Science, and Nguyen Thanh Do, Nguyen Van Dung and Doan Cong Trung, all from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

The whole system comprises crushing, spinning and compressing machines.  First the crusher grinds the plastic waste into granules, and then the spinning machine turns the granules into plastic fibres of different sizes for use in 3D printers and fine arts decorations, or for other purposes.  The compressing machine produces molded products for daily use including dustbins, flower pots, trays, toys for children, and utensils.

Featuring both automatic and manual operation, this useful system is compact, relatively lightweight, highly affordable and easy-to-use.  Student Duong said that it costs about 10 million VND to produce one system, and most of that is spent on purchasing the engines and the sensor devices for the process.

Student Do recalled that he and his coursemates had made a field trip to Quang Nam Province’s Cu Lao Cham (Cham Islands).  During their trip, the students were not allowed to use plastic bags and bottles on the islands because any waste has to be collected and taken back to the mainland for treatment.  The students, therefore, were inspired to create a mechanical system to convert solid waste into useful items for use in daily life.  This aims to partly raise the public’s awareness of the need to classify and recycle garbage in an easy and effective manner to ensure environmental sanitation and guarantee sustainable development, especially on islands.

The students said that it took them half a year to design and create the system.  In the early days of their research, the students faced numerous difficulties, including busy academic schedules at their university.  Thanks to their hard-working spirit and strong determination, the talented students made their dream come true!  During a recent successful trial operation, the system produced more than 20m of clothes line from discarded plastic dishwashing liquid bottles.

Encouragingly, the strong-willed students won a consolation prize at the recent university-level scientific research conference, and their system was highly appreciated for minimising the negative impacts of plastic waste on the environment. 

The group also recently introduced their system to those who live on Phu Quy Island, Binh Dinh Province, during their stay there to attend the programme entitled ‘Students with the Fatherland’s Sea and Islands’ which was launched by the Central Committee of the Viet Nam Students’ Association.

Currently, the group are increasing their efforts to develop their product, with a focus on adding a molding machine to the system, in a bid to make sure that the machine goes on sale as soon as possible.