Advice please: How to find UK manufactures of a recycled plastics product idea to make prototypes?

norainbows

Hi,

Can anyone point me in the right direction please.

I have a product idea I would like to try and make happen. I have had many ideas of the past 20 years but never the finances to go with the idea. Many of my ideas have come to pass but 10- 20 years after I have thought of them and written them down in my ideas book.

Although I still don't have the finances,... I know there are many possible funding options these days, so my chances are greatly improved, a Business Angel and mentor are my instinctive preferences; good idea or....

The idea is for a kit and the product will be part of the kit. It is a simple ball shape that can be hollow. I would love for it to be made with recycled plastic and UK made to support UK manufacturing.

I have no idea where to start - help?

Also what would you suggest as the most likely successful way to secure funding.The product would (if successful), has a huge demand  potential for an ongoing frustrating problem.

Having researched this particular problem for a long time, I know people are happy to pay 500-1k for a solution. However these are quite ugly and intrusive, my idea is not. 

Any advice is welcome. 

Thanks in advance. x 

p00hsticks

norainbows said:

The idea is for a kit and the product will be part of the kit. It is a simple ball shape that can be hollow. I would love for it to be made with recycled plastic and UK made to support UK manufacturing.

Not an expert but as a complete novice my thoughts would be that if you're only at the prototype stage I'd not be worrying too much about whether the plastic is recycled or not, but more into whether plastic is the right material at all.

You can look into sourcing recyled plastic later on if it gets to a point when you need to start mass producing.

My first thought is - you don't mention what sort of size we are talking about here, but if you are simply talking about a sphere, potentially hollow, have you looked into craft supply shops to see if you can purchase something that you can use or adapt yourself ? Places like Hobby craft sell polystyrene shapes in various sizes and I'm sure ebay would also be a good place to look.

https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/crafts-and-hobbies/craft-blanks-and-bases/polystyrene-shapes

If you are actually talking about something that is more intricate, then my OH used to work for an engineering company that used CADCam / CDC milling and 3D processes to make small plastic components - perhaps try googling to find if there is one out there that you could approach to work with you ?

daveyjp

British Plastics Federation may be able to provide details of UK companies manufacturing in the plastic you need.

For any plastic product its the tooling which can be expensive.

MalMonroe

As others often say on here, 'google is your friend'. The internet is great for doing research about finding companies you can correspond with, how to get a patent (which you may need so that others don't steal your ideas), how much it will cost to set up, how to get funding, etc.

In the 'olden' days nobody had the internet but now, there's a wealth of information on there about so many things, do use it.

theoretica

If you simply want a recycled plastic ball can you buy ones already made? If you need custom made, what finish/properties do you need?  Some 3d printer filaments are made of recycled plastic so a 3d printing service might be able to help - if that was the finish you need - but probably more expensive.  Or recycle a complete ball - eg used golf balls are sold.

norainbows

p00hsticks said:

norainbows said:

The idea is for a kit and the product will be part of the kit. It is a simple ball shape that can be hollow. I would love for it to be made with recycled plastic and UK made to support UK manufacturing.

Not an expert but as a complete novice my thoughts would be that if you're only at the prototype stage I'd not be worrying too much about whether the plastic is recycled or not, but more into whether plastic is the right material at all.

You can look into sourcing recyled plastic later on if it gets to a point when you need to start mass producing.

My first thought is - you don't mention what sort of size we are talking about here, but if you are simply talking about a sphere, potentially hollow, have you looked into craft supply shops to see if you can purchase something that you can use or adapt yourself ? Places like Hobby craft sell polystyrene shapes in various sizes and I'm sure ebay would also be a good place to look.

https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/crafts-and-hobbies/craft-blanks-and-bases/polystyrene-shapes

If you are actually talking about something that is more intricate, then my OH used to work for an engineering company that used CADCam / CDC milling and 3D processes to make small plastic components - perhaps try googling to find if there is one out there that you could approach to work with you ?

Hi p00hsticks

Thank you (and everyone else) for taking the time to reply.

I totally agree with you that initially is doe not need to be from recycled plastic. This is more of an end goal. 

Sise is around tennis ball size or slightly larger. I have looked into golfing air balls to make a crude prototype, however from overseas their minimum order was thousands and I didn't find them particularly cheap, around 0.36 per unit. These were for the small run of the mill size which are too small for my idea. To make the tennis ball or larger they would need a cast make at the cost of 2-3k just for this and not for the product. This is not a viable option. It was also slow and tedious in communicating my needs, even with copious amounts of messages back and forth. This made me want to work closer to home to check for opportunities here. 

The plastic will have to be durable for all weathers, so UV resistant. Each kit would needs hundreds of spheres at least. 

After looking at Hobby Craft, this is not a suitable option for both materials and cost.

Your input id greatly appreciated. 

x


 

norainbows

daveyjp said:

British Plastics Federation may be able to provide details of UK companies manufacturing in the plastic you need.

For any plastic product its the tooling which can be expensive.

Hi daveyjp

Thank you for that, I'll look into it. x

theoretica

Maybe interesting? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade_balls

norainbows

MalMonroe said:

As others often say on here, 'google is your friend'. The internet is great for doing research about finding companies you can correspond with, how to get a patent (which you may need so that others don't steal your ideas), how much it will cost to set up, how to get funding, etc.

In the 'olden' days nobody had the internet but now, there's a wealth of information on there about so many things, do use it.

Hi MalMonroe

Google is your friend and your enemy and filters according to who pay pay the most for Google Ad Words. I find G frustrating and overwhelming as it likes to send people on a wild goose chase of their preferred sites first. Even searches for UK in brackets gives me enough false leads from overseas to waste much time; time is precious. I find forums with kind and knowledgeable people much more helpful than Google, personally. 

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

norainbows

theoretica said:

If you simply want a recycled plastic ball can you buy ones already made? If you need custom made, what finish/properties do you need?  Some 3d printer filaments are made of recycled plastic so a 3d printing service might be able to help - if that was the finish you need - but probably more expensive.  Or recycle a complete ball - eg used golf balls are sold.

Hi theoretica

I need hundreds (at least) of simple hollow big balls with a hole through all the way through the middle. Tennis ball or a little bigger. Colour initially unimportant but later on it will be. I did think about 3d printing but the fact that I need so many may be a barrier.  Golf balls are too small and too dense/heavy. What I require needs to be lightweight, weatherproof, durable and cheap per unit. Quality initially is not an issue as I need to test the whole idea in situ before concerning myself with that. x

norainbows

theoretica said:

Maybe interesting? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade_balls

Hi theoretica 😊

These are perfect size and UV resistant.  Will look into this further. Thanks for the link. 🤗