5 innovative inventions from plastic

Plastic is, by all means, the devil we befriend. For all the call of environmentalists about banning plastic use for goods, it remains as the truth that humans can’t separate their daily life from plastic. They are parts of our cars, our homes. They are what keep our food fresh overnight and most importantly, they are the basic material used in hospital and medical care. We have often been warned of being drown by the ocean of plastic we left behind. But the opposite is also true, without plastic, the human civilization may collapse just as quickly.

Today, we will look at five of the most innovative inventions made from plastic.

1. Artificial heart

The use of artificial heart is considered one of the break-through innovation in the medical industry. A plastic heart maintain the lives of patients during the time they wait for a proper heart transplant, or simple extend their lives in the case no donor heart is available. According to the the SynCardia, a person with a TAH (Total Artificial Heart) comprises of pulsatile, ventricles and valves like a human’s heart. It is biocompatible and can help the patients enjoy an active life to 5 years before they could find a donor heart.

2. Spacesuit

A spacesuit is the shield of an astronauts, their protection against the hostile cosmo environment. Spacesuit helps them breath, perform normal activity in a zero-gravity environment and move among space dust to collect planet material samples.

Due to these requirement, spacesuit has to be flexible, strong and anti-UV radiation. This suit is comprised of several layers of plastic, they are resilient enough to endure extreme conditions, heat, forces while the plastic material is still light enough to allow movement.

3. Plastic wheelchair

There is an estimate of hundred million disabled people in the developing countries cannot afford for themselves a wheelchair. Life is hard for the poor, and it is made almost impossible for those suffering both disability and poverty. Mechanical engineer and inventor Don Schoendorfer thought of a solution: a low-cost, substainable wheelchair that can be produced in mass to support thousands of people at a time.

The wheelchair is a combination of available supplies, a plastic lawn, a steel frame and bike-tires. Such a simple design, but thanks to it thousands of disables are able to move again.

In 2001, Schoendorfer founded Free Wheelchair Mission. His nonprofit organization has delivered mobility to people in 80 developing countries at zero price.

4. Seabin Project

In 2015, two Australian surfers came up with an idea to combat the plastic waste piling up in their oceanland. The Seabin is a floating rubbish bin that can be located in the marinas, docks water area. The inside of the bin circled along the force of windblow and tide. Water is sucked through the catch bag inside while rubbish remained trapped in the bag, ready to be expose. The bin can even collect a percentage of oil and liquid waste through its fin.

The Australian government had issued order to optimize this project in several habors and docks in the country.

5. Lego houses

With the rising housing crisis in Colombia together with the mountain of plastic landfill left on ports, Colombian startup Conceptos Plásticos has invented a new model of construction: a real-life Lego houses for homeless people. The house is totally made of recycled plastic bricks, it can be built and decluttered within days.

Due to the resilence of plastic, these bricks can hold again earthquakes, fire and lightnings. They are also considered as an optimal solution for temperary residence of natural disaster. If there is a need to move location or to redesign the house, residents can remove the bricks, store them on their car and rebuild them again.

In 2015, 42 families in Colombia has registered as owner of these mobile Lego house.