Hygienic Hooks: Plastic Recycling takes on COVID-19

Increasing the hygiene level during the Covid-19 crisis

During the latest Coronavirus outbreak, measures and restrictions have been put into place to protect the population from getting infected. Among these are the requirements of wearing face masks, washing your hands regularly, and keeping the required distance. The outbreak also opened up a new market with the demand for products to protect yourself from the fast-spreading virus. We saw this as a great challenge to take on by applying our technique of 3D printing.

Part of the solution, not the problem 

Although it is uncertain how long the virus is able to survive on a surface like a doorknob, it is believed to stay there for multiple hours. Hygienic Hooks help you avoid touching doorknobs and other objects in order to stay safe and keep you from getting in contact with the virus. These hooks allow you to open doors and push elevator buttons without touching the actual surface, usually, they are made out of metal or virgin plastics. The team of vanPlestik decided to take the concept of the Hygienic Hook to the next level by producing a recycled version that is fast to produce but still fulfills the purpose of avoiding infection.

A smart technique behind a simple design 

We’ve spent years developing our designs and working on our printers in order to make sure that we produce robust furniture pieces. Our normal process involves making sure that all of our printers melt layer upon layer in order for it to stick together, resulting in a stable object. With these Hygienic Hooks our production process had to be changed again and we basically wanted to achieve the exact opposite. By applying our 3D printing technique, we are able to print these hooks in layers of which we can then ‘peel off’ multiple hooks. In this case, the technique has become very useful and allows us to create one big print, which results in potentially hundreds of these protective hooks. With this new and inventive technique of peeling off layers, we can now work on a semi mass production level by delivering a fast solution, saving energy by using recycled plastic, and helping the plastic recycling problem in the process.
Conventional plastic production techniques require a more complicated and therefore longer production process to produce a high quantity of objects. Compared to the most common used process, our technique enables us to go from idea to full-on production in just days, which saves us time and allows us to work independently. With our design, we can help everyone to stay safe and still stay true to working with 100% recyclable plastic.

Wouldn’t it be great if a tool for a health crisis that spread globally also supports the solution of another worldwide problem; the pollution of plastic waste?