Take a seat!

The plastic soup in oceans and seas, or closer to home: plastic waste on the side of the road and in parks. Al that plastic waste: it is a problem that does not sit well with us. At NHL Stenden, we would rather turn things around. We would rather sit on the problem. This bench is a perfect example: made out 100% recycled plastics.

Plastic recycling is a hot issue. Not only around the world, but also within our walls. Professors (applied sciences) Jan Jager and Rudy Folkersma are both at the helm of two professorships that focus on recycling plastics: Sustainable Plastics and Circular Plastics. This makes NHL Stenden the knowledge hub for recycling plastics.

In addition to our professorships, we also have a number of ateliers in which people are working hard on the issue of plastic recycling. In Leeuwarden, for instance, you can find the Mechanical Recycle Lab, where students, lecturers, and researchers are laying the foundation for optimal recycling of plastic packaging material. Together with the Computer Vision professorship (applied sciences), the lab develops smart cameras that can identify types of plastics with pin-point accuracy.

Emmen is home to a Plastics Lab where sorted plastics from Leeuwarden are processed into usable grains for the industrial sector, where companies use it to make new products. And finally, the Circular Design Lab, which is accommodated in the Blokhuispoort in Leeuwarden. It is an impressive room with multiple desks to work at, machines, and 3D printers, where students are discovering new applications for recycled plastics.

Rebottled

Our students designed an awesome bottle-shaped bench. Chemistry student Matthijs Dobbelaar literally dug up NHL Stenden trash for this. Industrial Product Designer student Arnold Hubach then researched what he could to with all of that plastic. The result: a water-bottle-shaped bench. Take a seat!