Business Case Deck for grant Think Beyond Plastic

1. Contact Information
• Joseph Greene, Ph.D.
California State University, Chico
Mechanical Engineering and Sustainable
Manufacturing Department
400 West First St.
Chico, CA 95929
• CSU, Chico is an university in Chico, CA and
educates approximately 15,000 students per year.
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2. Specific Problem Addressed
• We will design a machine to convert the single use plastic bag into a
plastic product that is recycled easily.
• Single use plastic bags are an environmental nuisance and have
been found as litter on surface streets and in the ocean waters.
– Approximately, 12% of the solid debris in the ocean is from
plastic bags.
– In the United States, approximately, 6% of the solid debris in the
oceans is from plastic bags.
• Most recycling programs in the United States do not accept plastic
bags in the collection systems.
– Many grocery stores provide a container to collect single use
plastic bags.
– The containers are then sent to a Material Recycling Facility
(MRF) for sorting and processing. 2

3. Problem Solution
• Our invention can help the grocery stores or schools
provide a more compact form of the recycled HDPE plastic
that can reduce shipment and energy costs to transport
the plastic.
• The project can help increase the recycling rate of plastic
bags.
• The recycled HDPE plastic bag disk can be used to produce
recycled plastic parts, like lumber, containers, toys, etc.
• Measureables
– We will produce a machine that can make plastic parts.
– We will provide CAD drawings of the product that can be used
for scale up by a commercial company.
– We will provide plastic samples of recycled bags for testing. 3

4. Company Finances
• Our university does not make money but is a non-
profit company in the California State University
system.
• The CSU Chico Polymer Manufacturing Research
Group is funded by research projects that are
managed by Dr. Greene.
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5. Product Technology
• The product will be developed by the mechanical
engineering students and will feature the following
items to collect, melt, and compress the single use
plastic bags.
– Roller system to pull in the single use plastic bags and
not thicker garbage bags.
– Plastic will be heated with infra red or some other heat
source for a specified time.
– Plastic will be chopped or cut into pieces that fall or is
pushed into a mold.
– Plastic is compressed and cooled in the mold to form a
disk or other shape. 5

6. Marketing and Sales Strategy
• The product will be marketed to the following
– Waste Management Recycling of Chico, CA
– Recology Recycling Company of Chico CA
– Safeway, Trader Joes, and other large grocery stores
– City of Chico Sustainability Group
– CalRecycle department in Sacramento, CA
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7. Competitors
• None- we are a university and provide technical
service to local industries including plastics
manufacturing, recycling, and waste management
companies.
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8. Team Members
• Joseph Greene, Ph.D., supervisor
• Four or five mechanical engineering students in
the senior project capstone design class
• 1 manufacturing student to CNC machine the tools
and mold for the project
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9. Financials
• CSU, Chico financials are excellent as we are part of
the state government
• Projected revenues in five years: $0
– We plan to develop the idea and then transfer it to a
commercial company for production use.
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10. Sustainability
• We will include sustainability into the project by
completing a Life Cycle Assessment of the
manufacturing project and to estimate the
environmental impacts of the project.
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11. Status
• The project is in the planning stages by Dr. Greene.
• Dr. Greene has managed over $2 million in grants
and research projects over 14 years at Chico.
• The start date will be August 26, 2013 and the end
date is May 5, 2014.
• Draft Timeline for 2013-2014 school year
– September 1: Submit project to class professor
– October 1: Assign students to project
– December 1: Finish mechanical design proposal
– March 1: Complete manufacturing build of project
– May 1: Provide technical and economic feasibility
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reports of producing recycled plastic bag parts