In February, we wrote about Atlas Games taking waste sprues off the hands of friendly local game stores to recycle them into new plastic kits.
That good idea has landed the company $100k in a grant.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency awarded the money, and Atlas has already spent some of the grant on an “Extruder XL” for Replay Workshop.
The new kit needed a forklift to move it into place and is powerful enough to plasticise 65 pounds every hour. That’s the technique of taking shredded plastic and melting it down for re-use.
John Nephew said;
That will go a long way toward helping Replay Workshop meet its grant goal of processing 50 tons of recycled plastic in the next year.”
There’s more money left over from the grant for other upgrades, such as a handheld infrared scanner, and wages. Replay Workshop has already hired new staff. Atlas Games co-owner Michelle Nephew explained;
We’ve already invested in a building and hired staff, after all.”
Atlas and their Replay Workshop seem to be onto a good idea. John added;
There’s actually a hole in the maker market when it comes to recycled plastic raw material. You can buy literal tons of it, but you can’t buy 5 lbs of it. That’s tough for startups and hobbyists. So we’re filling that gap, with the help of this grant.”
Products made by Replay Workshop are already available from Atlas and in other stores. Certainly, if you’re an Etsy boutique using Replay’s recycled plastic, it would be good to hear from you.
Via Atlas Games.
