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Environment

Clear Drop aims to streamline recycling by pressing bags into bricks

By Ben Coxworth
December 09, 2022
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Each "brick" is made up of compressed plastic bags (and other soft plastic waste), temporarily held in shape by a thin shell of melted plastic
Clear Drop
The Clear Drop SPC will sell for $295
Clear Drop
Each "brick" is made up of compressed plastic bags (and other soft plastic waste), temporarily held in shape by a thin shell of melted plastic
Clear Drop
A closer look at one of the bricks
Clear Drop
View gallery - 3 images

Loose plastic bags can be a hassle to separate and store for recycling, plus they may blow away and become litter if they're left outside at the recycling depot. The Clear Drop SPC is made to help, by compressing loads of your bags into compact bricks.

Looking not unlike a regular kitchen trash bin, the SPC (Soft Plastic Compactor) gets filled with the user's discarded plastic bags – assuming they're not going to be reused, that is – along with other "soft plastics" such as product packaging film.

Once it's full, the device compresses its load of plastic bags, etc into a cube shape, plus it applies just enough heat to melt a thin layer of plastic around the outside of that cube. After that layer has cooled, the result is a "brick" of compacted soft plastic waste, temporarily held together by a thin melted-plastic outer shell. A tuft of uncompressed plastic on top serves as a handle.

The Clear Drop SPC will sell for $295
Clear Drop

According to the Texas-based Clear Drop company, a patented process keeps the SPC from releasing toxic fumes "above levels accepted by health regulations and standards" as the plastic is being melted.

The idea is that users will just place the brick in their blue bin, after which it will be picked up and delivered to the local municipal recycling facility along with the rest of their recyclables. Once it's at the depot, staff there will simply break it open – which is claimed to be easily done – so they can access and sort the non-melted plastic bags within.

That being said, though, how will the workers know that it's bag-brick which can be broken open?

"Clear Drop is actively working with the recycling facilities. Our SPCs will not be sold without their participation," CEO Ivan Arbouzov told us. "Our distribution will take place in coordination with facilities, and sometimes the SPCs will be distributed by them or at least promoted by them."

A closer look at one of the bricks
Clear Drop

The Clear Drop SPC will be available for preorder starting next month, priced at US$295. It should ship next July.

You can see it in use, in the video below.

Source: Clear Drop

View gallery - 3 images

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EnvironmentRecyclingPlastic waste
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Ben Coxworth
Based out of Edmonton, Canada, Ben Coxworth has been writing for New Atlas since 2009 and is presently Managing Editor for North America. An experienced freelance writer, he previously obtained an English BA from the University of Saskatchewan, then spent over 20 years working in various markets as a television reporter, producer and news videographer. Ben is particularly interested in scientific innovation, human-powered transportation, and the marine environment.
10 comments
paul314
This seems like a really brilliant idea in general, but a really bad idea for individual use. Unless your family consumes the heck out of bagged goods and orders new air-packed items shipped to them every day, it's going to be a long time between bricks. And the cost of manufacturing and distributing these things to millions of people would likely outweigh the gains. As a community resource it would be great, especially with some kind of subsidy from the plastics manufacturers -- imagine the equivalent of the reverse vending machines at some supermarkets where you drop off recyclable cans and bottles. (Some supermarkets take plastic bags for recycling now, but they generally make the operation hard to find.)
TechGazer
... or you can just stuff your bags into another bag. Not quite as dense as a compressed brick of bags, but convenient, available, doesn't require electricity, doesn't break down and need to be thrown away, and free.
Trylon
Or you can just reuse the bags instead of disposing of them immediately. I stuff mine into a cardboard box and pull them out as needed for garbage or used cat litter. Besides, my state has finally been smart enough to ban plastic shopping bags for groceries and other merchandise, so the few plastic bags I get are from take-out food. I don't miss them at all.
zort
Better than adding yet another appliance to clutter your home , donate your old bags to thrift stores, second hand shops, libraries, food pantries, etc.
Or stuff 'em in one of those trendy (and awkward) 'eco-friendly' reusable bags and reuse 'em yourself when you go back shopping.
Sergius
The big job of recycling is not in the collection, but in the separation of the different types of plastic.
This process will help increase this complexity and nobody will know what might be hidden inside those surprise bricks.
mark34
The so-called 'single use' shopping bags seem to have become the poster-boy for virtue signalling politicians that vow to ban their use. Of course they never mention that the garbage bags that everyone will have to buy to replace these repurposed 2nd (or more) use bags will be the ultimate 'single use plastic bags'
Lee01
The cost of the equipment and efficiency of storing enough bags to make these bricks is challenging. Our recycling operation in Omaha is working with households and recycling haulers to collect bags and other plastic film in an Orange Bag that we sort out at our recycling operation. We grind the Orange bags and extrude them into plastic lumber. The bricks of plastic bags would work for us too, but the orange bag system works well, is convenient for households (they buy the orange bags at local grocery and hardware stores), and is easily sorted at our recycling operation.
TechGazer
This may be too late. As I read the comment someone made about his state banning plastic bags, I realized that I (here in Alberta) hadn't received a plastic bag in several years. I've been using reusable bags and a plastic bin for quite a few years. Bags are no longer free at some stores, and aren't available at others. I think bag bans will become more acceptable in more places, and these bag-brick machines won't have any bags to process.

Another alternative to this machine: get a few reusable bags or bins (both are recyclable when the finally wear out).
mediabeing
As long as they, or the ink printed on them, is not carcinogenic, fine.
We've made mistakes like this before.
Remember asbestos?
No More Seriously Bad Moves!
Our computers should keep us from doing that.
michael_dowling
I reuse my bread bags for shake and bake recipes,and I use a cotton string shopping bag when buying groceries. A MAJOR source of useless plastic is all the goods I buy that come wrapped in plastic,which just ends up in my trash,as it cannot be reused for anything. This gadget would require the recyclables people to be on board first,as we are forbidden to put plastic bags in the blue bins,which is pretty well universal. Only a handful of stores where I live take plastic bags for recycling,and they are often way across town. Rather than people buying a gadget like this one,manufacturers should use biodegradable plastic wrap that actually breaks down rapidly when exposed to the sun.
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