ENVISION HANDS : DID YOU KNOW? WHAT WE CAN DO! HUMANITARIAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL
Dean Fonseca, who is participating in the MSC pre-novitiate program at Cuskelly House at Blackburn, offers information on a simple ‘option for the poor’ outreach, something we can all share in very easily. And, it is also a wonderful project for recycling, Two priorities in one, humanitarian and environmental - simply collecting...
Dean writes and has sent some photos, images speaking louder than words…
“I have asked the parish at Blackburn to assist me in collecting plastic bottle tops for a group called Envision who are working hard to convert this waste material into prosthetic hands for poor children in India who have their hands amputated for various reasons. Envision are working in conjunction with Rotary India on this project and are asking one an all to join them in making a difference.
The parish have responded well to my plea and seem to be quite excited about helping out. We have collected a large sum of plastic bottle tops and have taken them over to Envision. While there we were invited to view the sortation process and what the end product looked like.”
ENVISION HANDS: Our Biggest project yet
Our mission and hopes.
At the moment we are on a mission. Our mission is to create 100 prosthetic hands out of bottle caps, with 3D printers, which we will then donate to children in need.
Inspired by the Enabling the Future organization we will be participating in the world wide community making and donating 3D printed prosthetic hands/arms for children in need across under-serviced countries. The major difference is our project will be using recycled plastic from bottle tops, thus also benefiting the environment.
Bottle caps are fully recyclable. Unfortunately, as reported on ABC’s ‘War on Waste’, they aren’t being recycled. They get sent to landfill, they fall through machinery, and in worst case scenarios, if attached to a bottle, they can explode and force expensive re packing issues.
This overlooked waste product is almost entirely made from HDPE 2 (High Density Poly-Ethylene). After considerable experimentation we have successfully taken this plastic and extruded it to create functioning filament for 3D printers. Once we have the filament we 3D print all the components that make up the hand. Check out our facebook page page for more up to date information on what we’re doing, and our contact page for more information on collection points.
Our partners
Rotary International and Rotary Wyndham in particular are doing great work in various countries and, with Rotary on the ground in Jamnagar, India, we have sent the first prosthetic hand/arm. The support we have been given by numerous Rotary and Lions clubs is fantastic and with the amazing contribution from the Coca Cola Foundation for the equipment we so desperately need to shred and extrude the plastic needed for the Envision Hands project we are really starting to move now..
Envision Hands is exploding and we are gathering more partners every week and we will be announcing further partners both on a corporate/business as we progress. If you would like your company to come on board for this exciting environmental and humanitarian project please do not hesitate in contacting Envision.
