RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
I'd think the lesson here (at current) is not so much responsible purchasing/creation as it is being creative and responsible in disposal of the waste you do generate. May not be an option for everyone to have a place locally that takes print scraps for recycling, but if you have an oven and a spare baking dish I could see no reason that you could not melt your own scrap into something useful rather than throwing it in the trash.
Plastic is readily workable with wood tools, so melting it into block blanks is a good start. I'm sure a lot of people know a guy that likes to turn stuff on a lathe or has a wood/metal shop; multi-colour blanks would make you a good friend ... 🙂
Heck, even at home it's quick to turn into e.g. a door wedge, plastic hammer head, etc.
Or sell 'em on ebay; 3d printing scrap can become the Fordite of the future!
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
I'd think the lesson here (at current) is not so much responsible purchasing/creation as it is being creative and responsible in disposal of the waste you do generate. May not be an option for everyone to have a place locally that takes print scraps for recycling, but if you have an oven and a spare baking dish I could see no reason that you could not melt your own scrap into something useful rather than throwing it in the trash.
That's not a bad idea actually. If nothing else storing compressed bricks for future recycling would be far more space efficient than bags of loose scraps.
If I had the space I'd like to get into grinding and re-extruding the waste into new filament. Probably not something I'd use for a final print, but even a mediocre job should work well enough for prototyping prints.
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
I'd think the lesson here (at current) is not so much responsible purchasing/creation as it is being creative and responsible in disposal of the waste you do generate. May not be an option for everyone to have a place locally that takes print scraps for recycling, but if you have an oven and a spare baking dish I could see no reason that you could not melt your own scrap into something useful rather than throwing it in the trash.
That's not a bad idea actually. If nothing else storing compressed bricks for future recycling would be far more space efficient than bags of loose scraps.
If I had the space I'd like to get into grinding and re-extruding the waste into new filament. Probably not something I'd use for a final print, but even a mediocre job should work well enough for prototyping prints.
Amen, though at the current costs it's pretty prohibitive for the home gamer unless you run through spools a month and go through volumes of scrap. At least here in the US there's Replay3d and Terrafilum which will do it for you. IIRC you get store credit for the material you send in.
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
I think Printed Solid will take waste filament. Not sure if they will take it shipped to them or if you have to hand-carry it to them.
See my (limited) designs on:
Printables - https://www.printables.com/@Sembazuru
Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/Sembazuru/designs
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
Do you guys have so much wasted filament? I was also looking into the home recycling options but so far I'm throwing less then one kilogram away in 6 month. And it's usually a variety of PLA/PETG/ABS/PC/Nylon.
Often linked posts:
Going small with MMU2
Real Multi Material
My prints on Instagram
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
Do you guys have so much wasted filament? I was also looking into the home recycling options but so far I'm throwing less then one kilogram away in 6 month. And it's usually a variety of PLA/PETG/ABS/PC/Nylon.
That's not the point, the point is to avoid throwing it "away" and having it end up in the waste stream in the first place, since it will never break down of its own accord anytime soon. Small or large amount, the problem is the same.
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
It varies, but the MMU can generate a ton of waste in that wipe tower! For a 2 color Benchy as I recall the tower is about twice the eight of the Benchy itself. For a 5 color Benchy the tower is easily 5x heavier. A 0.05mm test of a 20x20x4mm test with 5 tool changes per layer was estimated at 0.6m of filament for the object and 15m for the wipe tower and that was with the purge value tuned down by 30ish%.
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
That's not the point, the point is to avoid throwing it "away" and having it end up in the waste stream in the first place, since it will never break down of its own accord anytime soon. Small or large amount, the problem is the same.
In this case you should worry about any plastic you're throwing away. The whole food industry is still using a lot of plastic, so it's part of the waste stream anyway.
Avoiding only 3D printed plastic is like driving a big SUV and putting energy saving tires on it to be more environmental friendly.
Often linked posts:
Going small with MMU2
Real Multi Material
My prints on Instagram
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
That's not the point, the point is to avoid throwing it "away" and having it end up in the waste stream in the first place, since it will never break down of its own accord anytime soon. Small or large amount, the problem is the same.
In this case you should worry about any plastic you're throwing away. The whole food industry is still using a lot of plastic, so it's part of the waste stream anyway.
Avoiding only 3D printed plastic is like driving a big SUV and putting energy saving tires on it to be more environmental friendly.
Maybe I do. Just because our amounts are relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean it's not contributing to the problem. Little bits add up, and since it's no effort on my part to chuck my scrap in a box beside the printer and send it off to Replay3d when it gets full, I'll do that.
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
Maybe I do. Just because our amounts are relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean it's not contributing to the problem. Little bits add up, and since it's no effort on my part to chuck my scrap in a box beside the printer and send it off to Replay3d when it gets full, I'll do that.
By sending small amount back, you're not doing any good to the environment. It generates a lot of CO2 and consumes resources. To be fair, if you're really concerned about the environment, then you should reuse it locally.
Often linked posts:
Going small with MMU2
Real Multi Material
My prints on Instagram
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
Well, if I can do something with it, of course. I'm also not sending 100 grams at a time, my box is large and I a) compact it and b) would send multiple KGs. Replay3d is also somewhat local so it's not like I'd be shipping it halfway across the country either.
It's not a truly valid comparison, CO2 is part of the carbon cycle and is more readily removed/dealt with by plants than plastic. And said-same CO2 is also generated by trucking it to a dump and managing it there with the miscellaneous equipment to move the garbage around. So whether it goes to a dump or a recycling place is probably a wash in terms of CO2 generation.
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
Maybe I do. Just because our amounts are relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean it's not contributing to the problem. Little bits add up, and since it's no effort on my part to chuck my scrap in a box beside the printer and send it off to Replay3d when it gets full, I'll do that.
By sending small amount back, you're not doing any good to the environment. It generates a lot of CO2 and consumes resources. To be fair, if you're really concerned about the environment, then you should reuse it locally.
I am always the skeptic of the Carbon Foot print stuff. I especially like the Carbon Coupons to off set you sins.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Environmentally Safe Printing Materials
Don't get me wrong. If you have kilograms for recycling and have close by facility which is doing that, it would be also something I would do. But in my case it's just a small amount and sending from west to east coast.
Often linked posts:
Going small with MMU2
Real Multi Material
My prints on Instagram