An autonomous recycling machine designed by Taiwanese company Miniwiz, which can be transplanted into local communities to transform plastic waste into useful products, has received the 2021 World Design Impact Prize.
Called Trashpresso, the device condenses the same plastic recycling line that normally takes over entire industrial plants into two mobile units about the size of a refrigerator.
The process was designed to be as quick as possible, taking only three minutes from start to finish. It is powered by solar energy and utilises artificial intelligence and robotics.
Trashpresso is a mobile recycling plant (top image) with an integrated sorting system (above)
Although working at a smaller scale than a traditional plant, Trashpresso can still recycle up to half a tonne of plastic waste a day. This is equivalent to the consumption of a 10,000-strong community according to Miniwiz. "Trashpresso overcomes the barriers of distance and energy, demonstrating that recycling can be done anywhere and making upcycling scalable," said Jarvis Liu, who co-founded the company alongside architect and engineer Arthur Huang.
"It leapfrogs existing technology and empowers the circular economy by decentralizing plastic waste management."
The machine can be transported in a large shipping container
The process starts with a smart camera that uses AI to help users sort their plastic waste into different colours and types, from polyproylene to polyethylene terephthalat...