Jerry de Vos: Plastic Scanner
an accessible way of identifying; more recycling
Plastic separation happens every day, but how do they do it? In the Netherlands, plastic waste is neatly separated by complex laser systems. These systems can recognize the type of plastic and thus sort it by type for recycling. However, this is not always possible in less developed countries. They do not have the luxury of waste separators. A new accessible and cheap way of separating waste was needed and with that Jerry had found his graduation subject.
What followed was a smart, mobile, accessible, and affordable plastic scanner for separating waste. But this creative solution didn’t just appear out of thin air. For the project, Jerry needed to further expand his knowledge and skillset and in doing so he got help from people from different disciplines. However, hard work paid off. Jerry applied his plastic scanner for the James Dyson Award and won the prize for a most sustainable design.
With 1st place, Jerry had won resources to further develop his scanner. Moreover, the plastic scanner had already attracted a lot of attention. Many companies are ready to produce the plastic scanner, but Jerry is not convinced yet. According to Jerry, the commercial side of his plastic scanner is limiting development for now and prefers to stick to an open-source project. A project where all hardware and software are published publicly so that developers around the world can contribute to an accessible way of separating plastic.
For Jerry, this is just the beginning of his wondrous project, and so the development just keeps ongoing. With his project, Jerry hopes to offer everyone an opportunity to identify and sort plastic, thereby making steps towards a cleaner world.
