Clamp bricks with soul

Making sustainability easier for people in everyday life with good design - that is the basic idea behind soulbottles. Based on the company's own experience that tap water is practical to drink from old wine or vodka bottles when out and about, the idea to print glass bottles in an appealing way was born. in 2013, the first machine-produced soulbottles rolled off the production line: completely pollutant- and plastic-free glass drinking bottles made in Germany! They are produced in a fair and climate-neutral way, are vegan and with every bottle 1 Euro goes to a drinking water project. The bottles can be individually printed or engraved - meanwhile there are also extra-light variants made of stainless steel.

Because Soulbottles was born out of the idea of combating pollution from single-use plastic, the company has long seen plastic only as a problem. But since 2019, a business development circle away from the core glass bottle business has been busy developing new products and business models. In the process, the idea for recycled, high-quality toys made of plastic was born.

Clamping bricks from various manufacturers delight not only children but also adults, but until now they have been produced from virgin plastic. Soulbottles has developed the vision of clamp bricks made of recycled plastic, which are in no way inferior to those made of virgin material in terms of quality and, above all, safety.

The questions that arise around a possible product development are manifold: Which material is certified for use as a toy? What tolerances and surface qualities are needed to achieve the highest possible compatibility of the bricks with products from other manufacturers? And: Which tooling concepts can be used to produce different parts at the lowest possible unit price?

In order to preserve the sound of the familiar terminal blocks, and above all to strengthen a new high-quality material cycle, we decided very early on in the project that we would use recycled ABS. In order to source it in sufficient quality, old refrigerators are a good choice.

Material, development, completion - we identified potential stumbling blocks, ensured feasibility and evaluated implementation options. We looked at the advantages and disadvantages of different types of plastic, measured existing bricks in 3D to derive necessary measures in toolmaking and production, and calculated options for manufacturing. The result was various concept variants with binding prices. In short: A clamping brick in the unique marble look, made of ABS recyclate and compatible with common systems, is feasible!

What brands that are new to the subject have to spend time learning is written into our DNA: We know which material is suitable for which product, how it can be recycled and what tooling and unit prices are called for. The communication channels to our network, to suppliers and processors of plastics are short and we can offer the first steps of implementation in-house and overnight on our own machines. This leads to significant time savings in conception and development for our customers.

The initial question was whether soulbottles would like to enter development at all. And if so, on which path. With the completion of the scoping process, we provided all the necessary framework conditions in terms of concept, feasibility and profitability to make this decision in an informed way.

In order to validate mechanical properties and full toy suitability, we decided to go into in-house pre-series implementation and can now proudly announce: Our market-ready series clamping component is made of 99.7% PCR ABS from the electrical appliance collection, works flawlessly and shines in Marble Plastics!

While we were already in the middle of the process, it became public that LEGO would also like to offer Bricks made from recycled material in a few years. The world's largest toy company, however, uses elaborately modified PET from old disposable bottles for this purpose. Even if we can understand this approach, which is designed for a scalable, continuous supply of materials, from the point of view of a large corporation, it must be emphasized that the use of recycled materials here does not tend to do a circular economy any good - the bottle2bottle system is a showcase cycle for plastics that works in many places and is improving all over the world. If this is now deprived of material, it will only exacerbate the problem of material availability for food packaging. At the same time, vast quantities of unused material streams continue to go untreated into incineration, landfill or the environment. If you really want to advance the circular economy, you have to deal with it, including the impasses it entails.