Polyolefins group Braskem (São Paulo / Brazil; www.braskem.com) and Made In Space (Moffett Field, California / USA; www.madeinspace.us) plan to set up plastic recycling in zero gravity for the first time "in the history of space missions." Braskem has announced the companies will send a plastics recycler to the International Space Station (ISS).

The recycler is expected to reach the ISS in the second half of 2018 and close the plastics cycle there. The machine consists of a crushing and extrusion system and is intended to produce filaments that can be used on a 3D printer already installed in the ISS. The astronauts can then recycle plastics from tools and packaging and use them for other purposes. This helps the autonomy and sustainability of the space station as well as reduces the weight and cost of future space missions.

"There is a significant potential for plastic recycling on the ISS," said Andrew Rush, president and CEO at Made In Space. "For example, food packaging can be used to make objects for use by astronauts instead of being discarded." The initiative is a continuation of "Print the Future", a project between the Brazilian company and the US manufacturer of applications for the space environment. In 2016, the partners sent Braskem's sugarcane-derived PE to the space station, for astronauts to 3D print tools and spare parts.