As you can see in the video below, the gears definitely add an extra look of power to the machine ... plastic in while shredding it (in contrast to this lower-throughput experimental DIY shredder ...

and their open-source plans for small-scale plastic recycling machines have come a long way since then. They currently include a shredder, a compression molder, an injection molder, and a filament ...

His solar-powered Trashpresso turns plastic waste into small tiles that can be used to build walls and floors. “These machines are a prototype of what we think the future of recycling should be ...