{"id":11103,"date":"2022-03-24t16:30:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-24t16:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/international-students-idea-to-repurpose-barns-becomes-agro-plastic-recycling-company\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07t19:39:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07t19:39:25","slug":"international-students-idea-to-repurpose-barns-becomes-agro-plastic-recycling-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/international-students-idea-to-repurpose-barns-becomes-agro-plastic-recycling-company\/","title":{"rendered":"international student\u2019s idea to repurpose barns becomes agro-plastic recycling company"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">university of maryland international ph.d. student krisztina christmon launched her award-winning idea of repurposing farm plastic as part of a university innovation challenge in 2020. one year later, she serves as ceo of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/repurposefarmplastic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">repurpose farm plastic llc<\/a>, a company developing sustainable plastic recycling practices in the field of agriculture.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">christmon is a fourth-year ph.d. candidate conducting research within the university of maryland\u2019s department of entomology where she studies the parasites of honeybees in dr. dennis vanengelsdorp\u2019s lab. she earned her previous degrees at the university of west hungary and the university of exeter in the united kingdom. she became involved in combating pollution through the surfrider foundation, a national group with whom she began organizing cleanup events and witnessing the effect of pollution on local waterways.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">when the college of agriculture and natural resources tasked students with repurposing out-of-service poultry houses for the fall 2020&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/agnr.umd.edu\/student-opportunities\/agenterprise-challenge\">agenterprise challenge<\/a>, christmon entered with a proposal for washing-sorting-recycling facilities for used plastics. her idea of establishing agro-plastic recycling plants won first prize, followed by projects involving a hydroponics farm and an aquaponics farm.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">she now runs repurpose farm plastic llc with benjamin rickles, the company\u2019s cto and fifth year ph.d. student in umd\u2019s neuroscience and cognitive science program. while his background is in psychology \u2014he studies neural processes in reading comprehension \u2014rickles joined christmon out of commitment to&nbsp;his long-term goal to build a plastic recycling machine. according to his biography on the repurpose farm plastic website, he has a collection of napkin sketches depicting cleaning machines.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">increasing the value of recycled agro-plastic to further sustainable farm practices is listed as the company\u2019s forefront mission, and repurpose farm plastic llc notably aligns itself with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">united nations\u2019 sustainable development goals<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014particularly goal 12: responsible consumption and production. the pillar is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/b1g1.com\/sustainable-development-goals-guide?gclid=cj0kcqjw5oimbhdtarisaji0qk3hv51hpjusozvcxw1mijlhlzvnonmnkrqddgufjltuc7akfr0bfpcaai-cealw_wcb#responsible-consumption\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">described<\/a>&nbsp;as one that encourages reducing, reusing, and recycling at the workplace \u2014exactly what repurpose farm plastic llc aims to do on behalf of plastic consumers in agriculture.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cwhen it comes to plastic, the united states \u2014and everything in the united states \u2014has to adapt to be ahead of the curve,\u201d said christmon. \u201cit\u2019s interesting to look to international rules for some sort of guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201ca lot of what\u2019s going on, i feel like, is like we\u2019re relying on a lot of altruism,\u201d added rickles. \u201cthe purpose of our company is to develop technologies and good systems for recycling. we\u2019re trying to meet that point where sustainability is both ecological and cost-effective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">the recycling and repurposing processes that the company is considering after the research they\u2019ve conducted so far, he said, seems to decrease energy expenditure. not only is this good for the environment, but it\u2019s important for keeping the price of recycled plastic down. part of the current urgent concerns for repurpose farm plastic llc is education and outreach for agricultural plastic consumers, especially in cases where farmers still burn their plastics as a cheap means of discarding waste.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cwhat happens in some cases is, farmers burn the plastic, and those gasses and chemicals that are released \u2014 unfiltered \u2014 add to the greenhouse emissions and cause climate change,\u201d explained christmon. \u201crepurposing is the best option.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">with thousands of farmers in the eastern shore, the university of maryland extension (ume) has provided repurpose farm plastic llc with networks of county agents who connect them to farmers interested in participating in repurposing initiatives. the challenge, rickles explained, is offering their services to farmers while also managing expectations.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cpart of the difficulty has been to talk to farmers in a way to get information about what they need, what they&#8217;re interested in, but not to promise them that we have a solution for them just yet,\u201d he said. \u201cso the ones that we&#8217;ve partnered with are very intimate relationships. saying \u2018hey, this is what we&#8217;re doing \u2014 we just want to do experiments.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">christmon and rickles\u2019 status as students have benefited the company\u2019s development in several ways \u2014 not only are more people willing to speak to them because they are students, but many of the university\u2019s resources have proved valuable in building the company\u2019s network and presence in maryland.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cone thing about being students is that we\u2019re able to partner with the university education centers,\u201d rickles said. \u201cthe university has research farms all around the state. and because we\u2019re students, we\u2019re able to connect with them, they\u2019re letting us use some property. and that\u2019s the kind of thing that wouldn\u2019t be available to us if we had graduated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">while they admitted that launching a business as a student has as many benefits as setbacks \u2014 emphasizing the importance of making time for sleeping and eating well \u2014 these available resources have made for a successful first year for repurpose farm plastic llc.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cit was actually a perfect time for us,\u201d rickles said. \u201cthe university has given us the training wheels, and we can branch off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">as they look toward what\u2019s next for the business, christmon feels her academic trajectory has enhanced her business tactics so far, and will continue to complement her abilities as she runs the company.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201chow to gather data, how to do the research, how to network \u2014 all the skills are transferable to this business,\u201d she explained. \u201cand (with)&nbsp;what i learn in the business now, for example, going out and meeting people and presenting my research\u2026 i feel like i have better confidence and also better able to network in that setting. they build on each other and add to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">rickles hopes he\u2019s able to mesh his research and passions in a similar way, balancing his future in neuroscience with his future in the business.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201ci feel like i get to measure the impact of what my neuroscience work would have on the world, versus what this recycling project has on the world. and i&#8217;m excited to see which one would be better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>university of maryland international ph.d. student krisztina christmon launched her award-winning idea of repurposing farm plastic as part of a university innovation challenge in 2020. one year later, she serves as ceo of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/repurposefarmplastic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">repurpose farm plastic llc<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4919,4916,4902,4935,4900,4937,4938,4909,4910,4930,4933],"tags":[112,181,590,591],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-11103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-climate","category-colleges-education","category-conservation","category-green-living","category-plastic","category-pollution","category-public-health","category-renewable-energy","category-science-communication","category-storyfest-2022","tag-agriculture","tag-innovation","tag-plastic","tag-storyfest"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- this site is optimized with the yoast seo plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>international student\u2019s idea to repurpose barns becomes agro-plastic recycling company - 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