Kagaz Paper Recycling Machine

•

Technically complex product design

Duration: 8 weeks

Kagaz is a home an office friendly paper recycling machine that aims to make paper recycling more accessible in areas where a lot of paper waste is generated. Paper is a resource used world wide. However, many areas lack recycling plants and do not have adequate collection facilities to gather waste paper and ensure that it gets recycled. Kagaz tries to eliminate the middle man and allow the user to recycle paper at their own will.

Design Brief:

To Design a paper recycling machine for homes or offices that occupies the least amount of space, recycles paper in the shortest possible time and combines the existing technologies of a shredder, blender and a heat press.

Research

To understand the process of Paper Recycling in more depth, I visited ‘Sainsons Paper Mill’ in Kurukshetra. Sainsons is an agro-based industry which uses the stalks of wheat and waste paper to produce ‘Kraft Paper’.

Interviews

I also interviewed a few people about the relevance of paper in their day to day activities and what were their opinions on recycled paper

Finding Technologies

In order to build a paper recycling machine, I decided to find devices that could be used in the process. I finalized on a Paper shredder, a blender and a sandwich press

Building the Body

I was now time to fit all the different processes into one body. I needed to design a device that could shred waste paper, pulp it and press it dry to form new recycled paper. This process took a lot of ideation and iteration.