Inspiration
After our first two meetings with Huang Ayi, we found that as a cleaning lady in NYUSH, she even does not have her own cleaning cart to carry all these tools and cleaning equipment! What's more, the bucket gets much heavier when it's filled with water. And Huang Ayi needs to carry the bucket on her own to different classrooms! To solve this problem, we get the inspiration from Ayis in lower floors. Every of them has her own cleaning cart for carriage. We've tested the weight of bucket and found it over 15kg with water in it, which weighs a lot for a human. In this case, we decided to make a special trailer out of recycled material for Huang Ayi to carry the water bucket!
Process
Firstly, we made a design drawing which includes the structure, size and detailed measurements of the trailer. We decided to use the new material that we created to make the wheel, the wheel bracket and the base. Next, we conducted several experiments on using different methods to composite various materials included PET, HDPE, and PP. We determined on using bottle caps, which are HDPE, to make plastic bricks for cutting. Then, we used a wood board to make a prototype for the trailer to test the functionality of the wheel and wheel bracket. Although the size of it is smaller than the actual one, the wheels can be reused for the final product. The result showed that the wheel made out of new material can bear heavy weight and is firm and smooth enough to slide in the corridors. However, one problem is that there're slopes in 8th floor's corridor, and we're worry about the stability of the trailer because water is easily to pour out. We've also showed the prototype to Huang Ayi. And she gave us an important feedback that she would prefer a rope handle instead of a stationary stick handle by wood. Therefore, we replaced the wood handle with a thick rope and connected it to the base we recut, a bigger and thicker wooden circular board! Also, considering about the stability problem, we put a wood ring as the fence and covered it with a HDPE sheet as decoration.
Experiment
Our raw materials used for the experiment includes plastic bottles we collected from NYUSH's garbage recycling station and bottle caps from bubble tea shops. We conduct series of experiments with the use of heat compressor and oven. We found that the heat compressor's has a temperature limitation and is not capable of maintaining the thickness of the HDPE brick. However, the oven is more flexible. We can change the temperature and baking time easily. Therefore, we decided on using oven. Then, we tested the firmness of HDPE, PET and PP and found HDPE as the firmest one. It can also be melted easily and mold by bending three materials. In the end, we chose to use oven to melt HDPE and remold them into HDPE bricks as the new material for cutting and making the trailer!
Failure
During our process of making the trailer, we encountered various problems. Firstly, it's hard to make measurements to determine the position of the wheels on the big circular wooden base. It needs to be accurate to millimeters in order to guarantee the stability and visual aesthetics. To solve this problem, we carved signs on the wood board by using the CNC machine which is accurate enough to measure all dimensions.
The second problem is harder to solve. Our initial plan is to stick bottle caps together into the shape of a ring as a fence. However, after we finished, we found that it's really unstable and not visually pleasing. Thanks a lot to Marcela and Andy's suggestions, we replaced the plastic ring by cutting another wood ring. We also covered the wood ring with HDPE sheet to keep the consistency. The final product looks much better and aesthetic!
Success
After polishing, varnishing and adding a name tag to it, we finally got our finished product with a smooth surface and consistent pattern design. We tested the trailer together with Huang Ayi and she’s quite satisfied with the result. The water in the bucket won’t pour out when coming down the ramp due to the protection of the plastic ring around. Also, as we improved the design of the wood handle and replaced it with a hemp rope, the trailer is easier to store in Huang Ayi’s tool room and saves a lot of space!
How can the project be implemented in Shanghai/any other place?
Since we’ve got the AI files of wheel and plastic ring design, it’s quite convenient to begin quantity production and applying to different areas. The main materials, wood and HDPE (bottle caps), are inexpensive and easy to collect. It can be widely used by cleaners for carrying tools. In addition, as we have tested the firmness of HDPE several times, we can also install the plastic wheels to other products for carriage, like shopping carts.
How can the project educate people and raise awareness of environmental issues?
While most people are aware of collecting and recycling plastic bottles, only a few of them notice the use of bottle caps. The design for a plastic handle and plastic wheels would remind people of more creative ways that we can do to reprocess plastics. While some ways of plastic degradation would release toxic gas, we use an easier and safer way to change HDPE’s original molecular structure and make it a new and more solid material. To make a bucket trailer costs 700-800 bottle caps, and to make mass production would cost more. But thinking about millions of plastic wastes that we litter, to collect all these bottle caps can make a huge difference!
Thank you for reading;)
Fall 2020
Course: Remade in China
Professor: Marcela Godoy
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