Location - Sittingbourne, Kent

Groups Involved - Members of the public can be involved with Toxic Knobs by sending them their used bottle caps. Toxic Knobs will cover the cost of shipping.

Background - Toxic Knobs is a small company that was formed in January 2020. Toxic Knobs focusses on the creation of stylish gear knobs from recycled bottle caps. Toxic Knobs sells these products on their website and on social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook. This organisation to date has saved 45000 bottle caps from landfill sites. Bottle caps are of HDPE, which is a dense and chemically resistant plastic. This material has a low melting point which makes it excellent for recycling and turning it gear knobs. The plastic can easily be melted and reformed into a new shape. Each knob is made by hand and each one is entirely unique and cannot be recreated. Each knob is made to match every car, making it suitable for all consumers. Overall, this company does not purchase plastic for their products. Instead, they recycle waste and also ask any member of the public to send their used bottle caps to them and offer to pay for the shipping. This company encourages the use of recycling to promote sustainability. Sittingbourne has had some news coverage on issues occurring with recycling. Residents of Sittingbourne have had pamphlets put through their doors on advice on what and what not to put into their recycling bins. Sittingbourne has a history of contamination in recycling bins. By advising members of the public on how to recycle efficiently this has been a method that has been used to tackle this issue.

Aims - Toxic Knobs aims to encourage recycling and promote sustainability. Since Sittingbourne has issues with recycling, the organisation has set up a collection point for any bottle caps that the surrounding public have. They also offer a collection point for people who are not local by offering to pay for shipping so that they can get used bottle caps sent to them. Toxic Knobs aims to reduce waste in landfill sites.

Resources recycled -Toxic Knobs collects used HDPE bottle caps and turns them into unique gear knobs for cars. The bottle caps perfect for melting as HDPE has a low melting point; these are melted and moulded into gear knobs.

Social impacts - Since the company is only local there are not many employments available, however as the business develops more employments will become available.

Environmental impact - At the moment the organisation can only use HDPE plastics to produce their products. But ToxicKnobs are looking for ways to transform other plastics into their products to encourage further recycling. This will reduce more plastic in landfill sites and more plastics being produced, thus being sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Economic impacts - The few employees working for ToxicKnobs are most likely not earning a lot due to the company being small scaled. However as the business grows this will improve. As the company advances it will boost more money into the economy and can create lots of new jobs to reduce unemployment rates.

References: - Selke, S.E. Hernandez, R.J. (2001). Packaging: Polymers for Containers. Encyclopaedia of Materials: Science and Technology. 1.1 High Density Polyethylene. https://www.toxicknobs.co.uk/