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described PLA as “a great material for FDM 3D printing. Soy plastics are
also a good choice.” PLA is a commonly used corn-based thermoplastic for
3D printing that is a water-soluble thermoplastic. PLA can be used for sup-
port material and, since it's water soluble, can be rinsed off with water (not
solvents) and reused.
Another good way to make plastic printing more ecofriendly would be
to recycle and re-sell used ABS plastic printing ilament. “I hope someone
starts selling recycled plastic ilament soon,” Mark said. “Our lab and others
have been experimenting with this idea. What if every home could turn its
household plastic waste into usable plastic ilament for 3D printing? Wow!”
Maybe the irst re-cycled plastic ilament will soon be commercially avail-
able. A student at Vermont Technical College, Tyler McNaney, raised $10,000
on Kickstarter to build a device that grinds up and re-melts discarded 3D
printed plastic objects into printing ilament. Tyler named this recycling
device the Filabot, described on its website as “user friendly, but … also
environmentally friendly. Filabot will bring the real power of sustainability
to 3D printing.”
Recycling plastic is a good start. But more is needed. “To make 3D print-
ing a technology that can advance life, we need to ind ways to print in waste
product, food byproducts, recycled glass, sand, even dirt,” said Mark. He plans
to do more research to explore whether it's possible to use powdered food
materials as a sustainable raw material for 3D printing. “Rice lour is available
almost worldwide (and it prints quite well, thank you),” he laughed. “And food
byproducts, like corn husk or wheat chaff, cost very little.”
“Green 3D printing seems like an amazing direction to take. Re-purposing
waste into useable objects might be a fairytale. But it's an idea worth taking a
good hard look at to see if we can make it happen,” Mark concluded.
From “planned obsolescence” to “exuberant waste”
One environmental hazard of 3D printing has nothing to do with the manu-
facturing process or raw materials. The risk is a new mindset. 3D printing
gives people the power to design and make whatever physical object they can
dream up. But like the old saying goes, “Nothing in life is free.” Giving people
tools of production also introduces the temptation to become wasteful.
