Recycling 3D Printer Plastics Resources+Links
3d printerExtruding granules to filament #
https://www.artme-3d.de/produkte/desktop-filament-extruder-mk3/
Lyman Extruder, inspiration for artme
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1199870 and its firmware https://github.com/filipmu/Marlin-Mackerel
https://support.3devo.com/filament-thickness-deviation-inconsistent-diameter
Artme in practice: difficult to get all right at once, and highly dependent on input granules quality
https://www.cnckitchen.com/blog/recycling-plastic-cutlery-into-3d-printing-filament
Extruding granules for printing directly #
https://mahor.xyz/wiki/pellet-extruder-wiki/
https://ceadgroup.com/solutions/technology-components/
Not really consumer friendly in a 3D printer, such small scales amplify uneven extrusion problems.
Industrial-grade high-volume 3d printers are the main focus of pellet extruders. Still, good granule flowability (or at least consistency) is important and 3d printer waste may need re-pelletising: extrude once unevenly and pelletise into consistently sized well-flowing granules.
Recyclingfabrik #
buy recycled (industrial blended with post-consumer) filament & send-in post-consumer-recycing program
https://www.recyclingfabrik.com/
recycled material rPLA & rPETG granules
https://www.recyclingfabrik.com/collections/granulat
they probably stopped rABS because of styrene toxicity (would require enclosures and strong(er) air filtration for all machines)
Other companies doing post-consumer recycling #
Filamentive #
UK; buy an empty box to fill with your own waste
https://3dprintingwaste.co.uk/how-it-works/
and then the material goes here “up to 99% recycled material”
https://www.filamentive.com/product-category/refill-filaments/
and PETG “100% recycled material”
https://www.filamentive.com/product-category/rpetg-recycled-petg-pet-3d-printer-filament/
MyGroup #
UK; they sell empty boxes to be filled with waste and shipped back. no filament shop it seems, they recycle lots of different polymers
https://mygroupltd.com/store/recycling-boxes/3d-printing-filament-recycling-box/
Knightcycle #
UK; “currently phase 4”. Interesting optimisation: “Do you reward those who are reliable at pre-sorting and shipping? Absolutely, there will be tiers for those who send waste in reliably and/or correctly. The higher tiers will have better points-per-gram ratios. You can go up a tier by either hitting a specific number of shipments or a total mass donated.”
https://www.knightcycle.co.uk/roadmap/
3dtomorrow #
We can only manage so much waste, and it’s a loss making service to offer, which is why we can only offer it for users of our material. Processing the waste costs more than it does to just buy new virgin material, which is why so few people offer it.
https://3dtomorrow.com/2021/02/02/print-waste-recycling-program/#comment-49730
https://3dtomorrow.com/2021/02/02/print-waste-recycling-program/#comment-42190
Printeriordesigns #
USA
https://printeriordesigns.com/pages/recycling
from 100% recycled scrap
rPLA filament made in the USA from 100% recycled industrial scrap
Most of their wording carefully avoids talking about post-consumer recycling (more difficult than industrial scrap) and nothing is said about where that material ends up: at >100$ for an empty box…?
PET is one of the leading materials contributing to the global plastic waste problem. That is why it was so important for us to create Printerior rPETg which is 100% recycled, incredibly strong, provides no warping, no odor, and is perfect for almost any print. PET by it self can become bitter, so glycol is added to eliminate any crystallisation effect of the material while printing.
You have a great PR person, knowing how to skillfully wrap the truth in layers of indirection: PET != PETG, and PETG is very specific to 3d printing which on a global scale is still a super small-volume thing. Now if you’d be doing some polymer engineering by recycling PET and adding the glycol… Again skillful layers of indirection, teething on the edge of misdirection.
And then some typos: bitter -> brittle?…
Redline Filament #
DE; “Aktuell Pausiert”
Du hast die Möglichkeit, uns deine Materialreste und nicht gelungenen Drucke zukommen zu lassen. Wir nehmen sie entgegen, damit sie zu neuem Filament verarbeitet werden.
https://redline-filament.com/pages/recycling-programm
Das R-PLA wird aus 100% recyceltem PLA Filament hergestellt.
https://redline-filament.com/products/r-pla-maigrun
Identify plastics for sorting correctly #
https://www.sustainabledesign.studio/plastic-identification
They even have a lungs pictogram for the “smell test”
Different solvents
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Ethyl Acetate - PLA sometimes leaves a white discoloration, PETG does get mushy but only with a lot and when exposed for a long time
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Acetone - Makes both PLA and PETG a little mushy, makes ASA/ABS very mushy. Some PLAs react much less to acetone than others
Or just press a solder iron tip into the material. At 90°C setting it takes ~5s to punch into PLA vs ~15s into PETG.
Or the fancy route with NIR spectroscopy, “Affordable at only $2995.00”
Shredding plastics #
Use a wood chipper?
https://www.sustainabledesign.studio/store/p/desktopshredderv2
https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/machines/shredder/
https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/machines/shredder-pro/
https://actionbox.ca/products/shredii-8
University projects #
https://www.real.ost.ch/3d-druck-recycling
This recycling project is supported by
