Examples of the types of plastic bottles recycled and repurposed by entrepreneur David Gramlin.
Photo by Bill Hanson
to get rid of it. The toxic fumes were so bad,
Gramlin said, that he had trouble breathing in
the city center.
But where many might see tragedy, he saw
opportunity. He started building friendships
with the city’s leaders, talking to them about
his machines and how they could upcycle plas-
tic into everyday, practical products.
For example, recycled plastics can be used
to make trinkets, like carabiners, clips, and
other plastic souvenirs that can be sold in
tourist shops. On a larger scale, their weather
resistance makes them perfect roof tiles. Larger
pieces can be used as replacements for 2x4s to
build sheds, decking or table tops. “There are
a plethora of things you can do with just these
simple machines,” he said.
His goal in Ghana — and hopefully, one
day, other third-world countries — is to bring
his machines to the area’s leaders, teach them
how they work, and turn them loose to become
entrepreneurs in their own right. “I’m not say-
ing it will solve all their problems, but it can
give them a jumpstart and perhaps a gateway
to something new,” he said.
The desire to help fight the coronavirus
outbreak brought him home before he was
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May / June 2020
able to share the actual machines. Once life
returns to normal, he’ll head back, perhaps
with machines that have been further refined
in the interim.
EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A
REASON
As with many entrepreneurs, the Mobile
Recycling Initiative isn’t Gramlin’s only pur-
suit. Along with a partner, he’s also co-founder
of a company called Hearth, which manufac-
tures heated outerwear like jackets and gloves.
He got the idea while working for the Air
Force on nuclear jets in North Dakota, where
despite winter temperatures that got as low as
minus-60 degrees, they still had to work out-
side. The military-issue outerwear was warm
but bulky, which meant if you had to work in
tight spaces with your hands — the gloves had
to come off.
Much like he would later muse about the
planet’s plastics problem, he knew there had
to be a better way. “There has to be a way to
make this less painful,” he thought. “What’s
the most comfortable you’re going to be in
those temps?”
The motivation to solve that issue came to a