Making Waves: Nonprofit Turns Plastic Waste into Prosthetic Limbs

Shell & the Million Waves Project

Making Waves: Turning Plastic Waste Into Prosthetic Hands for Children

Duration: 4:47

Description:   

Shell’s Puget Sound Refinery recently presented the Million Waves Project, an Anacortes, Washington-based nonprofit, with a $5,000 grant to purchase a high-tech machine that turns plastic into prosthesis. The Million Waves Project is dedicated to closing the loop on marine waste.

MWP collects and processes marine debris that washes ashore in Washington State. The organization then processes the usable plastic and turns it into 3D printed prosthetic limbs for children and adults.

[Text]

Making Waves: Turning Plastic Waste Into Prosthetic Hands for Children

[Background Music]

Upbeat, folk rock Sound of Shell music plays in the background

[Video]

We move up and over a vast swath of trees in the Pacific Northwest, closing in on Shell's Puget Sound Refinery.

[Interview]

Shirley Yap

General Manager, Shell Puget Sound Refinery

We all live in this beautiful area in the Pacific Northwest and as a manufacturing facility, minimizing our footprint is very important to us. If you think about plastic, plastic actually do a lot of good to the society.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren attaches her prosthetic hand in the gym, while workers clear the Pacific Northwest coastline of discarded plastic.

[Interview]

Shirley Yap

General Manager, Shel Puget Sound Refinery

If you look at medical devices or food storages, et cetera. But plastic does not belong in our oceans, rivers, and in the environment. So the key is to limit the one time use plastic, but also find innovative solutions to recycle or reuse these one-time use plastics.

[Video]

A hand sifts through ground up plastic, ready to be re-used. Through the pines, we see the Shell Puget Sound Refinery below.

[Interview]

Shirley Yap

General Manager, Shel Puget Sound Refinery

We are a leading member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste and that's why Shell is really proud to a partner with the Million Waves organization.

[Video]

Plastic pieces are ground down, ready for recycling. A hand holds a keychain with the Million Waves Project emblem.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

The Million Waves Project is a nonprofit with a pretty simple goal. We wanted to take the plastic from the ocean and turn it into something usable so we actually convert the plastic into prosthetic limbs for kids.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren Waves her right hand to camera, showing off her prosthetic hand. Waves lap against the rocky Pacific Northwest shoreline.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

I had the idea in the middle of the night. I had woken up thinking about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and for whatever reason I remembered a YouTube video that I'd seen about a gentleman using a 3D printer to make a prosthetic limb and thought, "Somebody should put those two things together." And then of course the next thought was, "Well, I'm somebody."

[Video]

A 3D printer begins etching what will become a prosthetic hand.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

We were invited to speak at a science and technology night at a local elementary school where we brought our 3D printers and we showed kids kind of what we were up to and through that we were able to meet Abbey and Abbey's just this crazy kid.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren performs a standing backflip in the gym.

[Interview]

Melissa McPherren

Abbey McPherren's Mother

Abbey is pretty fierce. She was born with her little hand and she uses it to do everything we do. She learned to tie her shoes really early. She learned to do gymnastics really early, flip over the bars. And her hand has never gotten in her way.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren works on her uneven bars program.

[Interview]

Abbey McPherren

Gymnast & Prosthetic Hand Recipient

It's still a working hand. It just is missing some of it and I can still do anything else.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren backflips into the start of her floor routine.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

When we started reaching out, it was a difficult balance because most of these kids, they're awesome kids. They don't need saving on any level, but we wanted to say is that, "Hey, if you want this, you can have it."

[Video]

Time-lapse footage as model prosthetic hand is assembled on a table, showing the flexibility and ingenuity behind such a device.  A hand holds up the finished product.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

And traditional prosthetics, they can be very, very cost prohibitive and kids outgrow them. So it gets difficult for a family to continually replace them, so we thought here's a very inexpensive way to make sure that, "Hey, they grow out of it?" Great, we'll make you a new one. But we wanted people to make sure that if we're going to be making these for children, we want them to be perfect.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren and her family attend a plastic clean-up event, as Abbey waves to the camera with her prosthetic hand.

[Interview]

Melissa McPherren

Abbey McPherren's Mother

Abbey kind of helped Million Waves develop their prosthetics and gave them feedback.

[Interview]

Abbey McPherren

Gymnast & Prosthetic Hand Recipient

I told them to make it a little bit tighter so that it would bend further. The prosthetic didn't really bend all the way, so I couldn't grab as much stuff.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren tests out her new prosthetic hand, gripping and throwing a plastic ball.

[Interview]

Abbey McPherren

Gymnast & Prosthetic Hand Recipient

I would say it's cool to get it because you can do more things and see how it's like to have a hand like that.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren performs her uneven bars routine.

[Interview]

Abbey McPherren

Gymnast & Prosthetic Hand Recipient

You can do everything, but you just need to figure out how to do it. You're just like anybody else, just with a different limb.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

Abbey's just an absolute powerhouse. What she's done to help other children with limb differences has been amazing because she didn't really see herself as sort of an opinion leader or a motivator, whatever it is, because she's got a lot of power, you know, through her gymnastics and other things.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren tumbles through her flawless floor routine, sticking the landing.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

Other children don't necessarily feel that way. So now, you know, whether it's with her prosthetic or with us talking to other children who are like this saying, "Hey, you know there's really nothing we can't do." And it's been unbelievable to watch.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren backflips across the mat.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

Once the project got rolling and we knew the impact we could have, the reality is if you want to make big change, you need big partners and in our area there's none bigger than Shell in terms of what they've done for our community, what they're always involved in.

[Video]

Drone footage of runners launching from the start during one of Shell's local Puget Sound events. Shell Emergency Responders toss souvenirs to a huge crowd on parade day.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

And when we reached out, we were just instantly received, so warm. At the time we were still cutting plastic bottles up in our garage with a pair of scissors in the crosscut paper shredder.

[Video]

Million Waves Project executive director Chris Moriarity, his wife and MWP COO Laura Moriarity receive a $5,000 check from Shell Puget sound officials.  Time-lapse footage shows the creation and assembly process of prosthetic hands.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

Now through the relationship with Shell, we have a piece of technology where we can run 10 spools of filament per hour. So that's the potential of 20 limbs per hour. We couldn't have done it without them.

[Interview]

Shirley Yap

General Manager, Shell Puget Sound Refinery

The Million Waves organization is a great organization that turns an environmental issue into great news.

[Video]

Volunteers collect discarded trash along the Pacific Northwest shoreline.

[Interview]

Shirley Yap

General Manager, Shell Puget Sound Refinery

And being able to actually see how this one-time-use plastic get into the hands, in this case, of people that needs it is very exciting.

[Video]

Abbey McPherren flexes her prosthetic hand.

[Interview]

Abbey McPherren

Gymnast & Prosthetic Hand Recipient

I think that it's really cool. There's a lot of plastic in the ocean, so you get two benefits, making prosthetics and cleaning up the ocean.

[Video]

Volunteers sift thru recycling collected along the shoreline.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

When we started this whole project, it was literally... I mean, it was just an idea in the middle of the night and I think part of it, and the part that I'm most proud of is, I might get one email from somebody asking for help, but in that same day I'll get 50 emails from people asking how they can help.

[Video]

Waves lap at the rocky Pacific Northwest coast, as a drone takes us high and over the trees revealing a sparkling Puget Sound below.

[Interview]

Chris Moriarity

Founder & Executive Director, Million Waves Project

And what we found in Shell was really a lot of that. They're saying, "What can we do together to make this whole place, the world beyond our community, truly better?"

[Text]

Special Thanks to

Million Waves Project

Melissa & Abbey McPherren

The Gymnastics Connection

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Close card with pecten and mnemonic.