More than 500bn plastic drinking bottles were sold in 2020 across the world, up from about 300bn a decade ago. If placed end to end, they would extend more than halfway to the sun.

Fewer than half of the bottles bought in 2020 were collected for recycling and just 7% of those collected were turned into new bottles. Instead most plastic bottles produced end up in landfill or in the ocean.

Between 5m and 15m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world’s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish.

Reducing the impact of waste on the environment is one of our commitments.

To prepare the material for recycling, it is needed to break it down. In the mechanical approach, plastics are first shredded into small granules.

This process is applicable to two largely popular packaging materials: PET and HDPE that are used for water, food, and detergent containers. These plastics form transparent or colored particles that can be used for the production of the sustainable light-transmitting gypsum.

The reclaimed plastic is used as a raw material for our sustainable products. We create a composite material that includes recycled plastic together with other components such as sutainable bio-degradable plastic, plaster, gypsum or concrete, where the recycled plastic also serves as a binder, making the final product more solid.

In our projects, we use several methods to form customized structures and patterns from the recycled and upcycled material to create our light-transmitting gypsum or concrete.

The recycled plastic granules are among the main ingredients here. Mixed together with the other componenets, they form a material that can be more or less uniform, depending on the request of the client. In the finished product, the granular structure can be either accentuated for the purpose of decoration, like in furniture, or be less obvious and more functional.

Every sustainable 3D printed light-transmitting plastic is hand placed and hand crafted to make the final product come to life.

Each product is unique as it depends on the custom design of each project.

Positive impact: KING KONG’s sustainable zero-waste recycling/upcycling chain

We operate in a business model that offers the most using the least, always reducing excesses. We use a zero waste technology in combination with hand crafting. But we want to do a lot more than this. We want to be part of a movement that improves the industry.

That influences laws on new ways to handle trash. That, in addition to respect, ensures profitability and prosperity for waste picker businesses.

*photo: UAE falcon ligh-transmitting gypsum being hand crafted

*photo: Albanian eagle ligh-transmitting gypsum being hand crafted

Another process that we apply to recycled materials is SLS and other forms of 3D printing. Directed laser beams melt plastic granules precisely where it is needed to form intricate customized shapes and structures. Our efforts to create sustainable materials through this method have come to fruition with the creation of our Light-Transmitting Gypsum and Concrete. We also use recycled materials and bio-degradable plastic.

*This specific production process is patented by KING KONG

A material's life cycle does not end when it is no longer used, its disposal can be a more

complicated issue than its production, bringing up questions of ecological impact. Most relevant is the problem of destruction and potential recycling for plastic waste rapidly accumulating on Earth as plastic production increases year after year.

In our R&D, we study various methods of plastic recycling/upcycling and the production of new sustainable products from the reclaimed matter.

Technically, almost every plastic can be recycled, however, for some kinds, it is not economically and environmentally sound. The reason is that the quality of the material inevitably decreases, and the amount of energy required for transportation, preparation, and treatment of plastic can be too high. There are types of plastic that are recycled fairly easily: for instance, colorless bottle plastic (PET) is simply shredded into granules that are then melted to produce new items. However, for many other kinds, the recycling process is more challenging.