About Sustainable Design Studio
Connecting
the dots between
waste and product.
We design and build plastic recycling machines in the UK, helping businesses, makerspaces, schools, and researchers close the loop on plastic waste. Founded in 2020, we make circular economy production practical, affordable, and accessible.
Desktop recycling, made genuinely achievable
Sustainable Design Studio makes desktop recycling and manufacturing accessible to everyone. We help entrepreneurs, educators, and professional teams turn plastic waste into real, useful products from their own workspace.
We support the full journey from idea to production, hardware, tooling, training, and free resources, so the whole system works the way it should.
Desktop machines
Compact, professional machines engineered to shred, extrude, inject, and extract. Modular, repairable, and built to last.
Moulds & tooling
Off the shelf premium moulds, and custom mould design and manufacture, to turn your recycled flakes into finished products.
Consultancy & training
Product design, material selection, training, and step-by-step illustrated manuals that remove jargon from the process.
Open research
Free resources, open access build guides, and tools like the Plastic Scanner that push the whole ecosystem forward.
Hands-on.
Repairable.
Accessible.
Sustainable manufacturing should be hands-on, infinitely repairable, and accessible, without compromising on performance.
If recycling is going to scale, it needs to be easy to adopt and reliable in the real world. That is what we build.
Founder of Sustainable Design Studio
Rory Dickens
Rory is a UK product designer who founded Sustainable Design Studio in 2020 with one idea: that practical plastic recycling should not require an industrial facility or a six-figure budget. He leads product design, engineering, and development across the full machine range.
Behind every machine is a small, dedicated team of designers, engineers, and makers based in the UK. We keep our process hands-on, every machine is built and tested before it leaves us.
Kit by design
If you can build it, you can fix it. Every machine ships as a kit, keeping equipment affordable, shippable, and future-proof to maintain.
Safety baked in
UKCA and CE certification, enclosed designs, door sensors, and documented safety procedures. Accessible should never mean unsafe.
Education first
Free guides, open access resources, and training programmes. The goal is the knowledge base, not just the machine.
Brands, makerspaces, and educational institutions from all over the world
Our sustainability commitment
Keep it in circulation.
Not landfill.
We believe the best solution to plastic waste is keeping it in circulation. Every product we make is designed to extend the life of plastic, enabling waste materials to become new products.
We align our work with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically around responsible consumption, clean production, and climate action.
Built to last
Powder-coated steel frames, serviceable components, and spare parts for every machine we have ever sold.
100% recycled packaging
Every order ships in 100% recycled and recyclable cardboard. No single-use plastic.
Carbon neutral shipping
UPS Carbon Neutral shipping on every order, worldwide, as we work toward a fully carbon neutral operation.
Product passports
Every machine we make is measured and documented. We show our working, not just our claims.
Plastic recycling questions, answered
Who we are, what we make, and how we work. Still unsure? Get in touch and we will reply within one working day.
Three ways to begin
Browse machines
Shredders, extruders, injection moulders, and more.
Free resources
Illustrated build guides, open-access manuals, and research.
Get in touch
Talk through your project with our UK team.