Anchorage engineer plans to recycle ocean garbage into plastic lumber

The cost of lumber and other building materials is sky-high, and it’s even more expensive when shipped to small coastal communities in Alaska.

Patrick Simpson of Anchorage has an idea that might help. He wants to create artificial lumber from an abundant material no one wants: Plastic ocean debris.

Simpson, an engineer, began by considering the global blight of waste plastic in the marine environment.

“As I thought about it, well, why can’t we convert it into something that locally could be usable?” Simpson said.

Read more: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/05/19/anchorage-engineer-plans-to-recycle-ocean-garbage-into-plastic-lumber/