Currently, there is a very limited number of public initiatives to take post-consumer plastics (PCP) from scrap to reusable filament. Although there is a list of plastic shredders and filament recycling machines available on the market, they are typically extremely expensive and time-consuming, making them unattainable for individual use, forcing people that want to pursue it to make DIY and hacked versions that often produce sub-par results.
Continue reading “Current Plastic Recycling Systems for 3D Printing”Users
3D printing is reaching more and more users every day. An estimated “6.7 million 3D printers [were] sold by the year 2020,” and that number continues to grow rapidly (Toor, 2019). With the degree of versatility and unlimited potential, 3D printing is being adopted into a number of industries and used daily.
Continue reading “Users”The Future of PLA
Due to the socially driven negative environmental side effects of corn and other starch-based crops, scientists are looking to lignin, cellulose, chitin, food waste, and other non-petroleum-based resources for more sustainable ways of producing PLA.
Continue reading “The Future of PLA”The Shredding and Extruding Process
Post-consumer plastics (PCP) need to go through various steps before they are able to be used again as recycled material. The image below shows a condensed version of the process beginning after the collection of scrap/waste PLA.
Continue reading “The Shredding and Extruding Process”PLA Recycling: Mechanical vs. Chemical vs. Compost
After PLA is 3D printed, it can be recycled and used to 3D print again, providing it has not been combined with another substance like super glue or non-water based paint. There are three methods of recycling PLA: mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, and composting. In order to quantify and compare these methods, two different systems are used to compare the three methods of PLA recycling; the restitution product system and the credit product system.
Continue reading “PLA Recycling: Mechanical vs. Chemical vs. Compost”PLA (polylactic acid)
PLA is a biodegradable plastic made from natural resources, such as corn or other vegetables that contain a large amount of starch (long chains of sugar glucose). In corn (the most widely used crop in the creation of PLA), the kernels are processed and the endosperm is removed, ground into corn starch, fermented to create lactic acid, and the lactic acid is polymerized (chains linked to create a polymer) into polylactic acid (also known as polylactide).
Continue reading “PLA (polylactic acid)”3D Printing
It can change the whole paradigm of how our children will see innovation and manufacturing…
Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot