HOW WE MAKE VERA PANELS™
Our 100% solar-powered recycling and manufacturing process is carefully designed to ensure we responsibly create products that are loved and can be recycled over and over again.
Step 1. Wash & Dry
First, we wash the lids to remove any contaminants, ensuring it is safe and sparkly for its next journey as a ‘new’ product.
Our sorting and shredding equipment requires dry input material to allow the lids to be processed efficiently and avoid corroding our metal equipment.
Step 2. Sort & Separate
Key to the success of our recycling program is our autonomous lid sorting system we are developing in-house. This mechanical sorter uses a machine-learning algorithm and high-speed photography to sort the bottle caps by plastic type and can even record data such as the beverage it’s from and the manufacturer. This allows us to be precise with the plastic we use to make our beautiful products.
Step 3. Granulate
All our material is shredded into small rice-sized granules which enables us to control the colour of our products and heat the plastic evenly.
Step 4. Heat & Press
The granules are then heated and pressed into our moulds and once cool, ready to be used.
Step 5. Manufacture
If any post-processing is required, we then can CNC machine or hand-finish our panels to produce multi-part products. After the products have served their long and useful life, they can be returned to us to be recycled again and again.
