Hairdresser Makes Prosthetic Limbs Out of Old Shampoo Bottles

While plastic-stuffed whales are washing up ashore, a hairdresser turns waste plastic into prosthetic limbs.

Plastic bottles being turned into prosthetic limbs.

(Photo: AP screenshot)

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While in one part of the world, whales with plastic-stuffed stomachs are washing up ashore, one hairdresser in Queensland, Australia has found a way to recycle and reuse old shampoo bottles to make prosthetic limbs for the differently-abled.

Former hairdresser Bernie Craven has turned a warehouse into a small 3D-printed limb factory in a bid to cut salon waste.

Craven's mission starts with the weekly waste pick up at hair salons.

We bring it back to our warehouse, we sort it, and then we actually shred it, we put it into the extruder, turn it into 3D filament and then we’re creating prosthetics with it.

Bernie Craven, CEO of Waste Free Systems

The first prototype took more than nine hours to print and 42 metres of extruded plastic.

It's hoped if the trial is successful, the recycled plastic prosthetic limbs will become commercially viable.