Waynesburg ‘Wacky Plastics’ project gains national recognition
Students in the Plastics to Progress class work on creating items from recycled plastic. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Heisey)
Some of the recycled plastic after it is melted and ready to mold into a variety of items.
Some of the more popular items that have been produced from Waynesburg University’s plastic recycling program are pens. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Heisey)
Courtesy of Andrew Heisey
Courtesy of Andrew Heisey
Bowls produced from Waynesburg’s recycling program
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A Waynesburg University program that is turning recyclable material into various items while reducing waste has brought the college national recognition.
Students have dubbed it the “Wacky Plastics Project.”
Andrew Heisey, chairman of Waynesburg’s fine arts department, calls it the Waynesburg University Plastic Upcycling Program.
Whichever name it is called, the project stems from the course, Plastics to Progress, which brought Waynesburg’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program the Rising Star Award for Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship. The award was presented as part of the recent 11th annual Deshpande Symposium in Cleveland.
Recipients of the award are recognized for their demonstration of and commitment to innovative educational courses and/or programs that promote institution-wide entrepreneurship education. Mindy Walls, director of Waynesburg’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation program, and W. Robert Stover, chair for entrepreneurial leadership, submitted Plastics to Progress for the award.
As she develops entrepreneurship innovation at Waynesburg, Walls put together a scholars program that has six faculty members who comprise the school’s Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows. Those faculty members combined to teach the plastics course.
“We decided on something that we were all interested in that we could look at through our different academic lenses and give our students a really well-rounded look at something. We landed on the problem of plastic waste,” Walls said. “We wanted to take an idea from concept all the way through to trial into manufacturing and into selling. We were thrilled with how it went. We got great feedback from the students.”
Heisey, one of the Fellows who taught the class, said he started recycling plastics a few years back.
A fellow professor, who’s from Columbia, asked him if plastic could be made into flutes to be taken back to Columbia.
“For a long time, I was experimenting with that, and I found ways I could melt plastic and make things new out of it,” Heisey said. “I have bags and bags of items that I melt down in panini presses into a malleable material and you can make it into all kinds of things.”
Plus, the use of recycled material reduces waste.
Items that have been made include a garden hoe handle, flowerpots, bowls and pens. Pens have been sold on campus.
Some students created a jewelry line and dedicated the color of the jewelry they made to coincide with a cause for which they wanted to raise awareness.
Materials used to make these items include grocery bags, bottle caps, milk jugs and detergent bottles.
The idea to use a panini press stemmed from Heisey’s research into the subject.
“I saw people putting bottle caps into a toaster oven, but I also saw people using a panini press and thought we could do that,” Heisey said. “You put it in that, it gets soft and you’re already pressing it into a flat piece of plastic, and you can shape it into anything.”
Heisey has plans for grander projects, such as using the recycled materials to make park benches, but more expansive equipment will be needed for that.
“There’s so much going on with this program,” Heisey said. “There’s so much potential.”
Walls said the potential exists to perhaps start a micro-manufacturing business using the plastic waste.
“There’s no plastic recycling in Greene County,” she said. “There’s a lot of places around the world where there are no plastic recycling facilities but there is an abundance of plastic waste. If we could figure out the recipe for a micro industry, this might be something that we can share with other areas. There’s opportunity out there.”
The university already has a presence on the Precious Plastics website, a worldwide site that promotes the recycling of plastics.
The formal reception where the award was officially presented was held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
“The Deshpande Symposium is a national gathering of entrepreneurship educators, policy planners and practitioners,” Walls said. “Being recognized by our peers across the country as a rising star in curricular innovation is exciting and affirming. Having others recognize our work will help us tell the story of innovation at Waynesburg University and hopefully attract students.”