TL;DR: Texas inventor Ivan Arbouzov built a countertop device that squishes your grocery bags into bricks for recycling. It costs $200 upfront plus $50/month. Yes, really. Remember when everyone was ...

Here's my new habit: Whenever I take the plastic wrap off a roll of paper towels or some other package, it goes straight into my Obaggo, a personal trash compactor about the size of a coffee maker.

Sean Hollister and Justine Calma reviewed the Clear Drop Soft Plastic Compactor, a shredder-lookin' gadget (see the product page) that slurps in unrecyclable plastic (which is most of it) and ...

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to provide households with a quick, safe, and simple means of compacting plastic containers of varying sizes," said an inventor, from Chicago, Ill., ...

The Clear Drop soft plastics compactor next to a pile of the bricks it produces. (Amy Skorheim for Engadget) Even if you bring home as few bags as possible — using reusable bags, carrying purchases ...

As a kid, I went door to door collecting cans to earn some pocket change. Today, I still take pride in recycling. I slice cardboard boxes down to size each Sunday, and make sure every viable plastic ...

It’s the Clear Drop Soft Plastic Compactor, and it’s not exactly adorable. But it’s fun to feed unrecyclable plastic into the machine and have it spit out bricks! Justine and I teamed up for a hybrid ...