About Us
What is Junk?
Let's break down what junk really is, literally.
"Junk" is used to describe countless items, components, and materials all of which we seemingly no longer have a use for. This "junk" adds up to roughly 2 bullion tons yearly, piles up in landfills that cover 1.8 million acres of land in US, and is a large contributor to green house gas emissions, the primary cause of climate change.
Many of the materials we claim to be junk have the capacity to be recycled or reinvented in some way. However, they are often thrown away and end up in landfills or discarded of another way that pollutes our air and water sources. This frequently arises from a lack of education and inadequate facilities. Our goal is to grant communities access to a trustworthy recycling facility and be transparent about how we transform these materials into products that enhance their community.
Our Story
Our goal at Junklabz is to redefine how the community perceives waste.
In our linear economy, waste is consider an unavoidable outcome. This misconception is leading to material depletion, landfill abundance, and wasted money. Junklabz will show the community the value hidden in their waste in order to optimize our material use in production.
Available recycling methods discourage users through ambiguous processing and limited visibility of results. We take pride in sharing our recycling journey to build trust with users and create end products with elevated value for community gain. Instead of ending our processing at shredded plastic, we aim to create educational material for schools, benches for local bus stops, 3D printing filament for makerspaces, and more!
Our Mission
We aim to reduce the amount of plastic headed to landfills through recycling, reuse, and reduction using circular design.
We plan to create, share, and implement our process(es) to ensure trust in our work and increase access to sustainable practices.
We adhere to putting environmental, societal, and personal health above profits.
Our Values
Transparency
We will strive to ensure our process is easy to understand
We will share our collection, processing, and safety data for accountability and progress hype
Safety
We will work to implement industry best protocol for safety
as well as developing methods and guides for how to improve personal and environmental safety
Thoughtful design
We will work to not create just to use
Instead we will make products that are built with their material life and second life in mind
Our Goals
Increase Trust in recycling
Through our transparency, safety, and fund allocation
Replicate our process elsewhere
Reduce plastic in landfills
Through our collection, manufacturing, and designing out single use plastic
Shred 1000 kg of plastic this year
Keep value in the community
Through local recycling, local donations, and local engineering projects
Create an education fund to support equity in education
Our Vision
Products that are created to last as long as their use
Products should not last 1000x longer than their purpose
Consumers know how to sustainable dispose of a product AND trust the process
Build a community of recycling and replicate the process at other schools
Identify and creating processes to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste streams that currently head to landfills
Open up the recycling center to more products and types