Thank you all for your contributions! We've made 143% of our goal, ending at $3595! We appreciate all of the help that was given. We will be continuing with our research and development, and incorporating in the next few days! Thanks again for the support.
- Closed Loop Plastics
Tucker and Will are working on some settling methods for our waste plastic to help clean it. We have just one day left on our crowdfunding campaign, please donate if you can! We've hit our goal, and now we would like to reach our stretch goal.
In Calit2-UC Irvine’s Interface magazine of Fall 2016, the SPAM team’s initial prototype was featured as part of UCI’s dedication to being the “coolest school”.
Prior to TCU, CLP was largely considered to remain only a school project. However, considering the overwhelming positive feedback gleaned from the TCU Values and Ventures competition in Fort Worth, Texas, the group decided it would be silly not to try and make efforts to pursue this new venture.
While in the SF Bay Area Co-founder Will Amos, along with fellow Brower Youth Award recipients learned how to surf from none other than the CEO of Sustainable Surf, a non-profit dedicated to making the surfing industry eco-friendly. In partnership with Sustainable Surf, CLP is working towards creating new surf products from recycled plastic.
Co-founder Will Amos was one of six Brower Youth Award recipients for Environmental Leadership in 2016. This national award inspired both Will and Aldrin to continue advocating for engineering solutions to the world's environmental problems.
Since CLP began investigating the possibility of recycling plastic into 3D printable material, the @ucibeallcenter for Art + Technology has been a supporting creative outlet. As part of the Beall Center’s annual student showcase back in 2016, the first iteration of the recycling was shown and demonstrated, giving the SPAM team some of its first public exposure.
Currently CLP is a part of the fantastic program, Wayfinder Incubator at UCI Applied Innovation. Their workshops, resident experts, and mentors have assisted CLP and countless other startups on their road to success.
#TBT to the origin of CLP working with @teamocsd to win 2nd place in Engineering for the 2015 DoE Solar Decathlon. Also a #TBT to our first sponsor @airwolf3d!
As the SPAM team began its journey to make 3D printing Sustainable it needed some help. One of their first resources for support was the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Research program. Thanks to their support SPAM was able to get the project from the drawing board to a first prototype.
As the project entered its second year a new group of innovative individuals was needed. This group continued to solve the many problems that the recycling system presented and by March of 2017 had successfully created printable filament from waste plastic for the first time. SPAM team 2 went on to win many recognitions and awards from UCI and TCU for its engineering and business ingenuity.
After Co-Founders Will Amos and Aldrin Lupisan helped set up what is now the Speculative Prototyping Lab the first team to work on the plastic recycling system was formed. This group was comprised of Art Students Eunji Russ, Aaron Hilado, and Tina Chau along with Engineering Students Will, Aldrin, and Amihan Amargo. The name “S.P.A.M.” came from using a Wu-Tang Clan name generator and stands for Specialists in Plastic Additive Manufacturing.
Finally got our industrial granulator working properly! Turns out, it was running backwards. Now it runs like a dream! Just ground up 300 lbs of PLA from one of our old 3D printing projects.
CLP members Will Amos, Aldrin Lupisan, Sharon To, Ivette Morales, Tucker Moody working on our most current pitch deck. It’s looking good!
Tucker Moody working on unclogging our industrial grinder. Check out this melted chunk of PLA he pulled out of it!
CTO, Aldrin Lupisan and Head of Manufacturing, Tucker Moody are preparing for today’s education event at the UCI Cove in partnership with the Claire Trevor School of the Arts.
Head of manufacturing Tucker Moody working on unclogging our industrial grinder. We got a bunch of PLA waste jammed in it, so he’s melting it out. Best of luck!
Closed Loop Plastics members Will Amos, Aldrin Lupisan, and Sharon To working hard on research and business development.
Trying out some different vacuum settings with our industrial grinder!
Working on some plastic shredding. Grinding up some PLA waste we had from a previous project.
CLP Co-founder Will Amos switching 3D prints. Right now we’re working on a super secret project for Sustainable Surf. Stay tuned for updates!
Closed Loop Plastics is a startup based in Irvine, California that takes plastic waste and turns it into 3D printable filament! Follow us as we take this journey together to turn pollution into a solution.
You've helped divert over 10 lbs. of plastic waste from polluting the planet. Thank you!
You've helped divert over 26 lbs. of plastic waste from polluting the planet. Amazing!
This will help divert over 55 lbs. of polluting plastic from the environment. Amazing!
You're gonna help divert over 220 lbs. of plastic from polluting the environment. That's about as heavy as two octopi!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This will divert over 550 lbs. of plastic waste from polluting our oceans. This is about half as much as a polar bear weighs!
This is gonna divert over 1,100 lbs. of plastic from destroying our natural resources. This is about 3.5 panda bears worth of plastic...and for that we shout our THANKS!
CALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!!! This is like waaaayyyyyy more than 2200 lbs. of plastic that are definitely not going to end up in our precious marine environments. That’s about 2 blue whale hearts worth of plastic, and by your generous gift, as big as yours. Thank you!