Neston High School Maker Space

Neston High School, located in Neston, Cheshire in the UK, has a dedicated maker space called the “Innovation Lab.” The Innovation Lab is a space designed to encourage creativity, innovation, and hands-on learning. It is equipped with a range of tools and equipment that students can use to design, build, and create.

“On the day we will be showcasing a Neston High School Makerspace recycling project, where students design and make wallets from recycled LDPE plastic such as carrier bags and soft plastics. We will display finished products and explain the process of collecting, fusing, and turning waste plastic into useful items.

The project aims to promote sustainability and creative problem-solving, showing how everyday waste can be reused in practical and engaging ways. We would like to share our work to inspire others, especially young people, to think differently about plastic waste. The activity is family-friendly and will be run by a small group of students working together.”

“At Neston High School Makerspace, our core focus is sustainability through creative reuse and recycling. Students are actively involved in collecting, cleaning, shredding, and transforming plastic waste — especially soft plastics and bottle tops — into new products using machines we’ve built ourselves from open-source designs. This includes our own plastic shredder, sheet press and injection moulder, which enable us to turn otherwise hard-to-recycle plastics into durable useful items like wallets and other designs. We reinvest any funds from product sales back into the project to buy new moulds and expand our capacity.

Our Makerspace also develops local sustainability awareness by working with the community on plastic collection, sharing our journey on social media, and even supporting other schools to start similar projects. Students use the space to learn practical skills in design, engineering and problem-solving while making a positive environmental impact.

This approach connects sustainability with hands-on making, showing how waste materials can become valuable resources and inspiring others to rethink plastic use and recycling.”