In my previous positions in both the marine & automotive industries, working with epoxy meant a TON of waste. All of the mixing sticks, spreaders, mixing tubs, gloves, etc were single use, and quickly disposed, with no option to recycle.

Today with Free Plastic, I am able to look at our waste differently. I see our waste as an opportunity. We own our waste. We try to recycle and/or reuse our waste over and over again.

Mixing sticks covered in epoxy are sanded down and reused countless times. Our spreaders are cleaned regularly.

Our pouring table is cleaned and refreshed, and has lasted us 4 years so far.

Our tubs holding excess epoxy are left out for a week to fully cure, and then carefully emptied and cleaned to be reused. Any tubs that break during the cleaning process are shredded and recycled with the rest of our polyethylene (HDPE).

The cured epoxy from within the tubs that would normally be thrown away are stored for a future project – faux stained glass pieces.

We haven’t been able to reuse or recycle all of our waste, but when we see specific types of waste piling up, like tubs or cured epoxy, the gears start turning and we start devising a plan.

The pile of waste seen in the first image was cleaned and will be reused, aside from 4 tubs – 3 PET tubs that were disposed of, and 1 HDPE tub that will be shredded and melted down.