Why Recycled Material is the New Future for 3D Printers
3D printing is taking the world by storm! Bringing an idea for a new product, or artwork into the world at the flip of a switch has gone from Sci-Fi to “Hey, look what I can do in my own home in minutes” in just a few decades.
From simple plastic toys you can make for your children right in your kitchen, to a complicated medical prosthesis, someone somewhere is trying to figure out how it can be done on a 3D printer.
If you think that the buck stops there, you’re in for a delicious surprise. There are even places you can go now to dine on 3D printed food! Chocolate is one delicious edible that is getting a lot of attention. “Print me up a piece of that Kit-Kat bar, Bro!”
It is easy to get lost in all of the possibilities of new technology, however. In all the excitement of discovering new frontiers, humans sometimes overlook the potential for damage until it’s too late.
Think of the K-Cup. Sure is nice to make a single cup of coffee but look at the alarm being raised over all those non-degradable cups filling up the landfills virtually overnight.
That’s why Terrafilum has decided to become an industry leader in the use of recycled plastic filament and other eco-friendly materials. We feel it’s important to limit the 3D footprint in its early stages by using naturally occurring materials like woods, metals, and even clay.
When we DO need to use plastic polymer based materials we work to minimize the waste, and destruction by recycling that material back into new spools of products ready to sell back to the consumer.
How Important is it to Recycle Engineered Filaments?
According to some initial reports, humans are producing a total of 30 million pounds of engineered, Petroleum-based plastic every single year.
The projections are for another staggering 250 million pounds over the next decade! This will result in a lot of unused material that we need to make sure doesn’t add to our already glaring carbon footprint.
Virtually all plastic filament already uses some recycled material. Think of that plastic water bottle you threw out yesterday. That could one day be a 3D printed, tiny, red airplane being played with by your child.
Even the plastic spools that filament comes on can be adapted to use more recycled plastics. Sustainability for the future of the 3D print industry is one of our major goals.
That’s the primary reason behind our return program that allows our customers to send back unused material allowing us to use it in our next product instead of it ending up in a landfill where it will only do harm, and will never become a beautiful piece of some creative 3D dream.
The world of 3D printing is in its infancy, and the innovations are only just beginning. That is why Terrafilum is proud to be on the forefront of the recycling groundwork for this exciting new industry.
Together we can build the future of our world without destroying it, or even creating one ounce of damage to our beautiful world.