Precious Plastics

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UNBC Partners with Northern BC Maker Collective and Precious Plastics!

This year we're excited to announce our partnership with the Northern BC Maker's Collective and Precious Plastics. Together we're making a community maker space located in Prince George. This will be a space that encourages community makers of all kinds to make to the fullest extent of their imagination. We will host a wide variety of equipment, resources, tools, and recycling equipment. Our plastics maker space can take local plastic waste to turn it into a wide variety of usable products.

Why This Matters

Why is it important that UNBC Sustainability has partnered with the Northern BC Maker's Collective?

  • Addresses plastic pollution by providing a community response that recycles our plastic and turns it into a product that we want to see
  • Plastic isn't just garbage, it's a resource with endless possibilities
  • A community hub for creatives and makers and passionate people
  • Making a culture of creativity and innovation

When the community comes together to make something, there is no limit to what we can do or make.

Making space, Day 1 in the makerspace location

Your Maker Space team starts space making. Having fun setting up the future location of the Plastic Maker Space. It can use a bit of TLC, but that's what we love. It's a space that can use as much creativity as any project. A blank canvas and the only limit is our imagination. 

 

 

How You Can Get Involved

We would love your participation, there are multiple ways you can get involved. Interested in being a maker Join the Northern BC Maker Collective and gain access to the library of wisdom, equipment, and mentorship to create to your hearts desire. 

Northern BC MakerCollective

Want to learn more about plastics recycling, or how we can recycle plastic on a small scale and turn it into new plastic products? Check out Precious Plastic.

Precious Plastic

Want to know more about UNBC's Sustainability team's role? Come visit us at the Sustainability Office, or contact Sustainability@unbc.ca. 

New team assembles furniture at new makerspace

See our new team assemble the makerspace. Entirely supplied with recycled furniture provided by the UNBC Sustainability team. Saving usable items from the landfill. Remember the 7 R's: if you can't reduce, REUSE!

Our Goal 

When we started this project, we had a vision to accomplish many things.

  1. As Canada's Green University, we aim to divert as much unrecycled plastic from the landfill as possible. We have partnered with Sustainable Labs to capture currently unrecycled lab plastics that can be fed and reused in the plastics maker space.
  2. We must educate on sustainable practices and alternatives. Offering new insights into new ways of doing things that benefit our communities and the environment.
  3. We aim to foster a spirit of innovation and sustainable entrepreneurship, demonstrating that meeting our needs can be done without harming the environment. This novel project provides research opportunities for curious students or community members.
  4. To create a circular economy within the UNBC and Prince George community.

Progress

Where are we on our journey to having a functioning makerspace? 

Well, we are still in the early stages, but we will keep you posted along the way. Currently we 

  1. Have a location and are starting site prep
  2. Ordering plastic-making equipment
  3. Recruiting community makers
  4. Forming relationships to collect plastics from community partners to supply our plastic making equipment.