Brighton student has material designs for old bags

Brighton University student Eléa Nouraud has come up with a novel way of recycling old plastic bags and turning them into useful everyday objects.

The 22-year-old has turned them into pots, egg boxes, wallets and reusable plastic shopping bags.

She said that she hopes to turn her idea, known as the Technique to Recycle Use Carrier bags (TRUC), into a commercial enterprise.

She plans to take the idea back to her native France after she graduates next month from the 3D materials and practice course at Brighton University.

She said: “I sort the carrier bags and heat press them in order to create a sheet to then be thermo-formed on top of a shape, either made by myself or in the case of the egg box it is formed on top of the real egg box.”

Brighton University praised the idea given that 13 billion plastic carriers are used in Britain each year with about 10 per cent of all plastics ending up polluting the sea.

Miss Nouraud said that she mixes granules from the polyethylene bags with a resin to produce tubes of materials which are flattened by rollers To make new long-lasting plastic bags.

The resulting polyethylene film is cut, rolled up, and ready to be turned into robust bags. Alcohol based ink is applied and the bags are cut and heat sealed.

She added: “The products are really tough and durable. I dropped one recently and accidentally trod on it, and it survived intact.

“I have really enjoyed my course at the University of Brighton and I hope to pursue TRUC once I have graduated.

“I hope this makes people understand the rewards you can get from recycling.”

For more information on TRUC go to: http://eleanouraud.com/.