Our main website explains the overall picture of OSR-Plastic. The Academy has video tutorials and information for you to learn how to start recycling plastic. The Map and Discord can connect you with recyclers in your local area. Be sure to add a pin to the map when you are up and running!

OSR-Plastic is an open-source project. This means that you can share back your knowledge with the rest of the community to help grow the recycling base. There are two main ways to do so:

• How-Tos, these are step by step instructions that show tips and tricks you have discovered during your recycling journey. Whether these are a machine hack, new product, mould, event hosting or anything in between, we want to hear about them!
• Discord, share your know-how helping people who come with questions on our Discord. The best thing is to help new recyclers avoid mistakes you may have made so that more quality recycling can happen more often. We are very happy for people to share their knowledge and are grateful.

All ideas are welcome and much appreciated. Use Discord to gauge your initial ideas with the community, we have channels for machines, products, collections and more.

We are a small remote team currently based in Portugal. When we have openings and opportunities we post them on Discord or social media. If you would like to work or do an internship learning recycling, check out the Map and ask local workspaces for job opportunities in your area.

“Open source” refers to something that people can modify and share - its contents are “open”. The term comes from the software industry where open source referred to the source code being open, nowadays the term has expanded to include hardware, products, research, design, just about anything that can be collaborative and non-proprietary!

The aim of OSR-Plastic is to provide a global solution to the plastic waste problem. We provide machine plans, product designs, knowledge on plastic and the industry, business models and a full ecosystem that can be adopted by anyone that wants to take the problem into their own hands. Everything we learn and publish online is free and open for anyone to use and modify.

We’d love you to join our community and become part of the OSR-Plastic Universe. We’re working towards more decentralised and collaborative processes to develop OSR-Plastic further, check out our Discord to learn how you can contribute. If you’d like to contribute to us financially, you can become a Patreon or visit our support page to find another way to help.

The Download Kit is in the Academy. It has the main kit with everything needed to start plastic recycling, plus each Starterkit has its own download kit.

No. We do not sell machines. We prefer that people build them locally or hire a machine shop. Just to make it clear, WE DO NOT SELL MACHINES.

You can buy machines or parts on the OSR Marketplace. Make sure to buy from someone around you to reduce delivery carbon emissions. Check out the Map on our Community Platform, or the Marketplace to see what’s available locally.

Yes, we would love that. The more people recycle, the better. The profit is all yours my friend! You can sell the machines via the OSR Marketplace.

If you build them according to our drawings, it should be ok. Overall they are safe to work with. However, a machine like a shredder can do quite some damage. But you can always customise the machines and make them safer. For more safety tips, check out the How-tos. Either way, please always watch out!

It’s different for every machine, the best place to find this information is in the Build section of the Academy. If you have any further questions, ask the community on Discord.

You can find all the output technical details on the starterkit pages of our website.

You can use Discord. Many talented and informed community members and engineers are there and might be able to help you!

See the Plastic section in the Academy.

Nope. We usually recommend HDPE (#2), PP (#5), and PS (#6) as the plastic types that work best in the OSR-Plastic machines. Ask around the community about other types.

It’s not overly dangerous to work with plastic as long as you follow the proper precautions. However, different plastic types have different requirements. Refer to the Safety and Fumes section of the Academy.PVC is toxic, so don’t work with it.

Hopefully, the piece of plastic you’re referring to is marked with a number from 1 to 7. If it is, hooray! You can easily search online or check out our Basics of Plastic section which goes into more detail. If it’s not marked, it’s a little more difficult. There are techniques such as density testing, infrared testing and burn to test. You can also get to know more about what kinds of plastic are used for common products (for example, chemicals are often stored in HDPE bottles). You can learn about all these topics in the Nerdy on Plastic in the Academy.

Plastic is a pretty strong material and as long as it’s sorted and cleaned properly, in theory, it could be recycled many times. Depends on the plastic type, but the industry says it’s usually around 10 times. But the point is to make long-lasting items to keep them out of our earth/ocean/atmosphere as long as possible.

We don’t have solutions for PET yet, head over to Discord and help us develop novel solutions to deal with PET.

You can purchase products from the OSR-Plastic community on the Marketplace.

Nop, we don’t sell products.

Nop, currently we cannot help you with product design. You can use the Map to find a workspace to help you or chat with people on Discord.

Use the Map on the community platform to find people around you!

We’d love you to join our community and become part of the OSR-Plastic Universe. Check out the Universe Explained in the Academy. If you’d like to contribute to us financially, you can support us on Patreon.

When collecting, check out this page for tips and tricks. To find people wanting to take your plastic, check out the Map. There are workspaces all over the world, so hopefully, there is a workspace or Collecting Point in your area.

Yes you can! Check out the branding and style guidelines in the Academy under Style guides.

There are 5 different map pins: Workspace, Machine Shop, Collection Point, Community Point and Member (Want to get started). There are 5 different types of Workspaces: Extrusion, a workspace that has only an extrusion machine; Injection, a workspace that has only an Injection machine; Shredder, a workspace that has only a shredder; Sheetpress, a workspace that has only a sheetpress and Mix, a combination of any of the machines. The “Want to Get Started” pin is for people who want to get started in their area and searching for people to start up a OSR-Plastic workspace/collection/community/machine shop.

There are many ways to make money with OSR-Plastic. You can find a wide variety via our Starterkits page. Like any business, it can be tough starting up, but many workspaces around the world have seen successes. Check out the Business section in the Academy for more information.

Starting costs vary from place to place depending on the scale of the business you wish to start. You can find our estimates on the Starterkits page.

We have the OSR Marketplace! This is a marketplace for the OSR-Plastic Community to sell anything related to OSR-Plastic. You can set up an account and start selling straight away. Check out the guidelines and the Marketplace.

For pricing estimates and further business advice, check out the Business section and Workspace Calculator in the Academy.

If you’ve forgotten your password, you can use the “Lost password?” link on the Sign up page.

A team will review each incoming Workspaces, Collection Points or Community Points to make sure they meet the requirements needed to operate within the OSR-Plastic universe to keep the community active and relevant.

The Community Program aims to help and reward the people and projects contributing the most to grow the OSR-Plastic movement. There are different levels, requirements and rewards. Have a dig below to understand how you can be part of it. For more information check out the Community Program on the Academy.

Translation has been requested since day one and has been difficult to figure out. We have content in many different formats and platforms. Additionally, a community interfacing in many different languages can be more confusing than helpful. For these reasons we have translation on hold. But for now you can access REGIONS channels on Discord to chat in your language.

OSR-Plastic was started by Dave Hakkens in 2013. The teams have changed multiple times over the years, mainly working on new versions. Now, there is a small team consistently working on the project. This team helps keep the community thriving and continues the development of machines and products. Learn more about the project through our history.

Because we believe that opening up knowledge for free is the fastest way to build effective solutions. Bottom up, grassroots, and community driven.

Check out our open source page for more information. Basically everything we is shared under Creative Commons public licence and and you are free to use it!

Because we believe that opening up knowledge for free is the fastest way to build effective solutions. Bottom up, grassroots, and community driven.

Check out our open source section for more information. Basically everything we do is open source and you are free to use it! We have a creative commons public license to help protect all of our designs, blueprints, etc.

We have a few revenue streams for the project. The main one is the Collabs we do with bigger partners. These Collabs help fund the building and maintenance of the online platforms as well as research and development of OSR-Plastic. We are also funded through a combination of grants, awards, donations, and Marketplace fees. If you would like to contribute, check out the Support page.

Would love to but it is not possible at the moment :( If you would like to see a OSR-Plastic workspace in action, check out the Map and see if your local workspace can facilitate you.

Discord is the best places to ask questions and find answers from the community! If you’re a Patreon supporter you can head to the Patreon Helpdesk on Discord.

Unfortunately, we can’t directly answer questions as we are a small team. We have all our information on the Academy and you can talk to many active people on our Discord. Also contacting your local workspace on the Map is another way to get great information.

Well we’d love to talk to you! Please visit our Support page and find out how you can help.