Two Zurich-based graduates have created a low cost lower-limb prosthetic made of recycled plastic waste that is collected and processed in local factories in Kenya.
Project Circleg was founded by industrial design undergraduates Fabian Engel and Simon Oschwald at Zurich University of the Arts in March 2018 as a degree project.
The two designers wanted to find a way to help the millions of people in less developed countries who need a prosthesis because of traffic accidents, poor medical care or armed conflict.

Most prosthetic limbs that are currently available tend to be lacking in functionality or are unaffordable to many who need them.
Without access to them, many individuals are confined to their homes, are dependent on others for help and live fairly excluded lives.
Alongside this need for prosthetic limbs, Oschwald and Engel wanted to address the issue of plastic pollution in less developed countries, where it is particularly high due to lack of recycling resources.
"As industrial designers, we see plastic waste as a valuable resource for meaningful products. So we came up with the idea to combine the topics of plastic pollution with the high demand for low-cost prosthetics in developing countries," said Engel.

They chose to use this post-consumer plastic to fabricate the Circleg, reducing the material cost by half and utilising locally available plastic waste for production. The recycled plastic is reinforced with glass fibre to increase the stability.
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