SUMMARY

This design of a plastic shredder aims to provide a small scale solution to plastic pollution. PET
(polyethylene terephthalate) bottles can take up to 400 years to decompose. A 500-mililiter plastic
bottle of water is estimated to have a total carbon footprint equal to 82.8 grams of carbon dioxide. The
main parts of the plastic shredder are namely: (a) hopper, (b) shredder, (c) power supply, and (d)
framework. The hopper receives the plastic bottles and uses gravity to push the bottles down towards
the shredder. The shredder makes use of shredding knives, fixed knives, and a sieve to turn the plastic
bottles into flakes. The power supply is a 1/2 hp motor with an external speed reducer. The framework
holds all the other parts of the plastic shredder in place. The output of the shredder is in the form of
plastic flakes. These flakes can then be easily processed (e.g. through an extruder) into new products
and so are efficiently recycled.