Recycled Plastic Bottle Topper

When you're done making red plastic and it's time to make blue plastic, you have to get all the red plastic out of the barrel of your injection molding machine. This is done by squirting all the molten plastic out of the barrel until the new color runs true. The plastic hardens into a puddle that resembles something between brains and the aftermath of a cow that ate too many crayons.

These leftovers, called purge, get thrown in a box and recycled in bulk. I grabbed one from that box to recycle it myself.

They're not exactly solid plastic. The molten plastic comes out of the machine at about the consistency of toothpaste. If the temperature's low, the plastic doesn't stay liquid long enough to melt together, so you end up with holes in it every now and then. I had to make this project twice because the first one had too many holes in it, and they didn't add any character to the design. In all, it's a cool idea and a really fun material to work with. I think I'll grab another batch and see if I can make some screwdriver handles.