Rise of the plastic Artisans
Many thanks to the National Festival of Making for featuring us in Season 4 of Art in Manufacturing when we were still Precious Plastic Lancaster. The film was beautifully captured by Sodium Films.
Filmed back in December 2020, we didn’t realise what opportunities it would lead to - Including the location of our Foundry!
Meet the Team
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Martin
Director
Martin set up Precious Plastic Lancaster (now Relic Plastic) back in 2019 and has enjoyed it ever since. He brings new products to life from new customers or in-house and has an eye for making processes as efficient as possible.
You'll normally catch Martin looking out the window at work trying to work out what outdoor activities would be best suited to the weather conditions.
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Alex
Workshop Manager
Alex is in charge of making sure the foundry is running smoothly, machines are behaving and products are meeting high quality standards before heading out to customers. His breadth of industries, disciplines and experience of tools enables him to turn his hand to most jobs that are thrown at us.
Out of the foundry, Alex likes to spend time with his family, play golf, fly drones and other nerdy things. -
Peri
Education & Outreach Officer
Peri is out and about at schools, events and festivals showcasing the recycling process and exploring the bigger picture beyond waste and recycling. Her friendly nature, energy and environmental knowledge means everyone in our workshops go away with a smiling face and a new piece of information.
Peri's also an incredible artist specialising in Eryri landscapes and seascapes. You can usually find her out and about in the mountains when she's not totally renovating a house!
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Liam
Workshop Team
Liam first joined Relic when they moved and turned his hand quickly to the injection moulding process. His sharp eye and care for the product's journey translates to high quality products and in-house developments.
Liam enjoys too many things to list ... -
Tom
Workshop Team
Tom enjoys the flexibility Relic offers that works well for his climbing career - he will happily craft a number of products in the morning with dead focus and then climb something ridiculous in the afternoon. He brings good energy and thoughtful puzzles to the team during the day. His strong arms means he's the first person to come to when there's a stuck bolt somewhere in the Foundry.
Our Impact
Diverted Plastic
On the whole, our small operation diverted less than 1 tonne of plastic waste from being incinerated or landfilled in 2022. This results in 2,447kg CO2e saved which would normally be created in the ‘wasting’ process. Through the use of recycled in place of virgin plastic, we saved 1,260kg CO2e. And because we’re made in Britain 2,011kg CO2e is saved by not relying on overseas transport.
RAISING THE VALUE AND EXTENDING THE LIFE OF PLASTIC
Recycling is by no means the best most productive use of time and energy, but it is an exciting way to create higher value for plastic that would otherwise be wasted by capturing it into a longer-life item with injection moulding or sheet making. This is why we’re called ‘Relic’ because we seek to make single-use plastic a thing of the past and whatever plastic does outlive us (because it will) can be left behind as a beautiful, useful and quality-made.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Through our school presentations, Relic Foundry tours, Design-tech workshops, teacher trainings, corporate workshops, community events such as festivals and demos and the Bottle Top Project we reach approximately 2,000 children and adults every year.
Recycled Plastic Partners
We partner with individuals, groups, organisations, and businesses to recycle plastic into higher-value items and develop circular economies. An emphasis on designing for circularity is at the forefront of what we do.
Relic currently uses Polypropylene [PP 5], Low Density Polyethylene [LDPE 4], and High Density Polyethylene [HDPE, or PE HD 2] in all manufactured products. We separate all our plastics by colour and type.
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Community Collected
Working with individuals and groups like Carnforth Wombles, Bay Area Recycling, Eggcup, local churches and food banks, and Green Lancaster, The Plastic Bottle Top Project collects a limited range of clean, post-consumer plastic.
If you want to join in, please click below.
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Business Donations
Do you have clean manufacturing plastic waste that could be used in our products? Contact us to set up a partnership. We take clean pre-consumer/industrial waste. We’ve worked with businesses across various industries to either reduce their recycling costs or take plastic that they want to see created into something new. Send us an email if you’d like to work together.
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Circular Economy Partner
Do you work in an industry where you see so much going to waste, but want it to be used for the better? If you have an idea for your business using the waste streams you currently have (and are hopefully working towards minimising) then please get in touch with more information about your materials and product ideas.
We began
as Precious Plastic Lancaster
in 2018
Verified workspace
We are a Precious Plastic verified workspace.
The wider Precious Plastic community exists to reduce plastic waste. Sometimes we do it through boosting recycling. Sometimes through new biodegradable materials. Some other time by adopting zero waste lifestyles. Whatever works.
Our solutions see people as the key element to fix the plastic mess.
Precious Plastic approaches count on people to bring about the necessary change.
Small steps, multiplied by millions. That's where we can win our battle.
We don't believe in techno-utopian, fix-it-all, dream technology.
Precious Plastic is a combination of people, machines, platforms and knowledge to create an alternative global recycling system.
Everyone can join the Precious Plastic Universe (yes you too!).
Learn more at www.PreciousPlastic.com
