Dumaguete’s Plastic Waste Converted to Chairs
Dumaguete’s Plastic Waste is now being turned into recycled chairs. City officials led by Mayor Felipe Antonio “Ipe” Remollo along with a representative of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-EMB tested the newly delivered set of Plastic Recycling Equipment. The set of equipment is used to convert plastic waste into chairs and are now installed at the Central Materials Recovery Facility.
Plastic Waste Chair Testing
The testing of equipment was witnessed by Mayor Remollo and Vice-Mayor Karissa Tolentino-Maxino, Councilors Michael Bandal, Lilani Ramon, Edgar Lentorio Jr., Manuel Patrimonio, Liga ng mga Barangay President Dionie Amores along with Eco-Park Solid Waste Processing Facility Manager Engr. Leticia Duran and Environment and Natural Resources Officer Chilvier Patrimonio accompanied Mayor Remollo
According to Mayor Remollo, these sets of equipment, which are granted by the DENR to Dumaguete City upon his request, can further help in the efforts to manage the city’s solid wastes by recycling the plastics into chairs especially that the old dumpsite was already closed last March 30, 2021.
The plastic chairs that will be produced by the recycling equipment can be donated to the public schools and offices,” Mayor Remollo said.
The equipment is environmental-friendly as it comes with a pollution control closed-loop wastewater treatment facility so that all liquid discharges from the cooling tub, plastic washer, and dryer are treated and reused again by the system. Another set of equipment that is undergoing a series of tests is the machines and parts of the pyrolysis gasification process, which is capable of converting garbage to construction materials such as hollow blocks and paver stones to be used in the various infrastructure projects of the city. Once all the required tests are completed and passed, the two sets of equipment will be commissioned to full service.
How Does the Equipment Work?
The operator’s manual of the recycling equipment provides the basic steps in converting plastic wastes to chairs. All waste plastic materials are fed through the plastic shredder machine. The shredded plastic goes through the washer and is dried. Once the desired temperature has been reached, the shredded dried plastic is loaded continuously to the extruder machine. Melted plastic is then taken out from the barrel discharge outlet and placed in the 7 mold parts of 1 chair set. The molds are then placed on the baling machines for pressing. Molds are then submerged in the cooling tub before taking out the molded plastic to assemble all parts of the molded plastic to form one complete chair.
