EcoForged – Reclaimed Plastic Extrusion for Sustainable Building Materials
DRACO’s EcoForged Project is Aimed at Creating a Plastic Extrusion System Capable of Turning Recycled Plastic into Sustainable Building Materials!
Project Deliverables and Outcomes
Project Management
DRACO has created a coalition of academic institutions and industry partners across South Dakota to fulfill the goals of this multi-year, state-wide initiative known as EcoForged. The EcoForged initiative involves coordinating the efforts of both students and industry partners who share our vision.
Professional Development
DRACO is working with faculty advisors at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) and the University of South Dakota (USD) to implement classroom skills towards real-world solutions through the EcoForged Project.
Proposal Writing
DRACO wrote a $25,000 2020-2021 EPA P3 Student Design Competition Proposal to bring an original idea from DRACO co-founders Eric Sandhurst and Jevin Meyerink to life. The goal of this P3 project involves developing a mobile extrusion system capable of repurposing large volumes of reclaimed plastics into on-site building materials.
The EcoForged Project aims to address a critical step in reclamation of these plastics by exploring a water-free cleaning system to eliminate toxic solvents utilized in current cleaning technologies, as well as developing an independent plastic-extrusion system (EcoForged) to produce interlocking plastic beams (EcoBeams) from locally collected waste for isolated building applications (i.e. disaster relief and isolated communities).
Sustainability is inherently interdisciplinary and solutions-oriented. Addressing this challenge must include considerations from environmental, social, economic, and engineering mindsets, which is why the EcoForged Project exists as a state-wide collaborative initiative. Student teams from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and University of South Dakota are guilded by a board of industry and academic advisors donating their time and expertise to direct this project towards success. Equally important as the environmental impact, this project provides valuable experience to participating students, engaging their abilities to confront sustainability challenges and use engineering to effect positive societal and environmental change through innovation.
“Being able to collaborate with DRACO has allowed our sustainability undergraduate students to engage in community-based learning and to collaborate with students from other universities to help develop products that address sustainability challenges. DRACO made the collaborations easy and fruitful – from my perspective and from the perspective of the students.”
– Meghann Jarchow, Chair of USD Sustainability and Environment
One USD student wrote, “Great course that successfully gives students a taste of what opportunities would look like in real-life job scenarios. I enjoyed being part of a team and working towards an interesting and beneficial goal.”
Project Team
2018-2019 SDSM&T EcoForged Senior Design Team led by Jason Ash, Lowell Kolb, Butch Skillman
Seth Vidrio – SDSM&T Student Lead – Mechanical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Brandon Allwin – Mechanical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Brooke Bialas – Mechanical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Christopher Fitzgerald – Mechanical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Angus Frisch – Computer Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Jacob Huber – Mechanical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Terrence Kuca – Mechanical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Matthew Miller – Mechanical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Alex Schimbeno – Electrical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
Theodore Seeley – Electrical Engineer SDSM&T ’19
2019 USD Sustainability Capstone Student Team led by Meghann Jarchow
Rachel Abele
Callie Meyer
Haley Andrews
Tanner Hall
Cody Senn
Daniel Whirlwind Soldier
Mitchell Riner
Christopher Gaher
Jacob Zea
Jacob Selgestad
Chase Stehly
2020 USD Sustainability Capstone Student Team led by Brennan Jordan
Amber Ellison
Faith Ireland
Kierra Determan
Jesse Weber
South Dakota School of Mines Project Lead – Jevin Meyerink
