Sep. 9—Rebecca Bercich, a Rose-Hulman professor, recently found herself more pleased than ever in reTHink's back room, where she has been training volunteers how to benefit from the environmental organization's plastic upcycling equipment.

Plastic is a substance that notoriously isn't biodegradable and difficult to recycle — it dwells in landfills (and in oceans) for centuries.

But reTHink's upcycling equipment, the only of its kind in Indiana, can transform certain plastics into new products. Bercich showed Regan Zerwig, Janna Graf, Garri Knezevich and me how to operate a plastic shredder, extruder and sheet metal press to create useful objects. Then she put us to work.

Afterward, Bercich told me, "I have to say that once you and Regan were working on the shredder, and Gary was on the extruder and Janna and I were working on a shelf — I had this moment of like, 'Oh my god — I've waited two and a half years for this moment.'"

She added, "We've always talked about our dreams for this space and it was never about me working by myself. To have other people working on all the machines and working with each other and talking and sharing ideas, this is like the realization of two and a half years of work."

Though Bercich had trained an occasional interested party on the equipment in the past, our training session was one of a series that reTHink will offer aspiring volunteers on weekends through the end of the year.

"People need to know this resource is available to them," Bercich said.

The session began with much technical language that sailed well over my head. Knezevich, well versed in design and manufacturing, asked Bercich a number of high-tech questions; I had no idea what they were talking about.

Marveling at the discourse, Bercich said, "This is amazing — and we haven't even started breaking things."

However, that didn't impede on anyone's ability to operate the machinery. The shredder has essentially three buttons that a journeyman like me need concern himself with — run, stop and reverse. Zerwig and I popped a series of red plastics — from bottle caps to entire coffee jugs — into the shredder's gaping maw (a board is used to cover it because it often repels plastic shards back at the user).

The grinding sound was impressively imposing as the machine spat chips of plastic into a tub beneath it.

Zerwig and I agreed that destroying stuff so decisively was pretty cathartic. We reduced a large container of red plastics to a pile of chips a fraction of its original volume.

Now that I had proven so destructive, Bercich invited me back the next weekend to create instead, molding the red plastic into items anew. That brought me to the extruder, an instrument that melts plastic down and deposits it into a variety of molds. Molds of beams of varying widths are used on the extruder most frequently, as they're useful in a variety of ways, capable of being assembled into shelves, chairs, table legs and park benches.

Bercich has also determined that the mold for a bracket that supports shelving proves quite useful. Other molds on her wish list that she anticipates being frequently implemented include knobs and hooks.

I, however, availed myself to the carabiner mold, which doesn't take much time at all to create a useful result.

"It took a lot of work [to get the carabiner mold], but was worth it because we've got these keychains we can hand out to visitors," Bercich said. "When kids come in, they've got a short attention span, and I want them to see the process from start to finish."

The mold fills within a minute and cools within five. "So they see the whole process and we pop them out and hand them out, and the kids leave with something that they saw made."

The extruder is a little more complex to operate than the shredder. It must be preheated to about 250 degrees, the molds must be clamped securely to the orifice that ejects the melted plastic or leakage could occur, and a very sensitive knob on the machine must be adjusted to the number 12 — just a slightly awkward twist will jump it to 15 or higher, and readjustments will take it much lower. My carabiners, however, turned out in fine shape.

I also assisted Bercich on the sheet metal press, which can produce tiles, coasters, clock facades, table tops and other items with a flat surface. Using a variety of colored plastics over a base of white chips, we created a table top with a bit of a Jackson Pollock vibe.

The other trainees were there for a variety of reasons.

Zerwig, an Indiana State University graduate student studying sculpture who primarily creates larger outdoor installations, hoped to partner with reTHink in producing her work.

"Part of my latter work is about repurposing materials, so I have several sculptures of repurposed material," she said. She hoped her art would remain beautiful but have observers keep the planet in mind and encourage repurposing instead of buying new products. "The installations entice the viewer and the environment."

Graf had a diverse variety of ideas for the recycled plastic, including stepping stones, bike racks ("There's hardly any bike racks in Clay County") and guttering on homes where it would be possible to see they were cluttered with leaves without climbing up to them (though upcycled plastic isn't really clear).

"I come up with a lot of different things," she said. "This place is endless with every kind of idea you can imagine. This is very hands-on for people to think of ideas and different ways."

Knezevich, who has supported reTHink — as well as a multitude of other local nonprofits — hopes to use his skills as a carpenter, designer and technical instructor to create more molds and has partnered with Bercich on yet another charitable venture.

"I attended Rebecca's class because I have several projects in the works that can benefit from her expertise," he said. "I am excited to learn more of the process of recycled materials for my design work. I definitely plan on returning and using the space to complete more usable product."

He will work with Bercich on SHOW, an organization he recently began that aims to shelter the homeless. "While this project is in its infancy," he said, "we hope to produce a prototype that will lead to manufacturing."

Future upcycling training sessions are scheduled for Sept. 24, Oct. 1st, Nov. 12, Dec. 3 and Dec. 10, with each running from 1 — 5 p.m. Those attending will likely see Knezevich, Graf and Zerwig at some of them.

David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.

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