Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as schools shut down, I co-founded a non-profit organization with Sophia LaCroix, with the ambitious goal of cleaning our communities, recycling plastic locally, and giving back to local schools.

After months of deliberation, exploring options and opportunities, and creating our organization from the ground up, we settled on the PETBOT, an up-and-coming machine that turned plastic bottles into 3D printing filament. With our minds set on purchasing our own PETBOT and becoming some of the first people in the world to use this technology, we began our search for funding.

Countless cold emails, proposal documents, budget drafts and rejections later, we were able to come up with the required $1,100 in funding to start our project, thanks to the Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools Foundation and Eco-Friendly Sask.

Working in close contact with the creator of the PETBOT, Roman Neskashev, we ordered and shipped our own machine to Saskatoon: the first of its kind in North America. Although the conversion process is relatively simple, there are countless variables and issues that were initially encountered. Through trial and error, experimenting, and working with other users around the globe, our first successful pultrusion of 3D printing filament happened weeks after receiving the machine.













 
 
With the PETBOT up and running, we were able to proceed with the rest of our organizational goals. We organized garbage clean-ups around the city, partnered with the Meewasin Valley Authority on their annual Spring Cleanup, worked with professors at the University of Saskatchewan and Regina to test our products, and delivered presentations to peers, in partnership with the Canadian Wildlife Foundation Wild Outside Program, and set up and participated in countless media opportunities.

Outside of our local impact, we helped other individuals and organizations get started with their PETBOTs. Most notably, Joshua Taylor, who has since created and produced his own version of the PETBOT, and helped get the concept of pultruding plastic bottles out around North America.
 

Working closely with Roman again, I developed a user manual for the PETBOT to help future recyclers get a quicker start with their machines, and has been used around the world.

 

SK Eco Solutions was dissolved in 2022, with both Sophia and myself graduating and pursuing post-secondary education outside of Saskatchewan. Before leaving, we worked with the Green Team at Bishop James Mahoney High School, teaching future recyclers and youth how to recycle with the PETBOT, and donated the machine to our school, in hopes that future generations can continue our work.

To date, the PET bottle pultrusion process has reached over a dozen countries and has hundreds of users worldwide. Recently, a similar project has gone viral online, garnering over 100 million impressions!