Recyled PLA spools

[Marci klein]

QUESTION ABOUT PLA.... I have begun mentoring 2 young entrepreneurs (7th graders) who aim to start a company recycling PLA (mixed with virgin PLA) and supplying maker spaces, schools with less expensive, eco-friendly alternative. I'm not a PLA specialist, I would assume this has been done but don't see any big companies making a killing on this. They realize the PLA won't be quite as high quality but think it may be good for learning purposes. Thoughts?  

[Amanda Grutza]

From what I gather they would not need to mix it with new PLA, it is pretty common to melt down failed prints/scraps and then re-extrude it into a new pool.

https://all3dp.com/make-low-cost-filament-extruder/

And the recycled pla could be pitched as prototyping PLA! For test prints, demos, and teaching purposes. 

What a cool plan! Good luck!

On Fri, Jul 31, 2020 at 8:08 AM Marci klein <pres...@3duxdesign.com> wrote:

QUESTION ABOUT PLA.... I have begun mentoring 2 young entrepreneurs (7th graders) who aim to start a company recycling PLA (mixed with virgin PLA) and supplying maker spaces, schools with less expensive, eco-friendly alternative. I'm not a PLA specialist, I would assume this has been done but don't see any big companies making a killing on this. They realize the PLA won't be quite as high quality but think it may be good for learning purposes. Thoughts?  

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Amanda Grutza

STEM Educator

amandagrutza.com

[Joan Horvath]

Hi everyone-

Neat idea - but MUCH harder than it might appear. There have been a lot of crowdfunded companies that have failed to deliver, and, well, we get asked this pretty much at every talk we give. Not to be the voice of negativity, but... 

Our low-cost printers (by which I mean less than $10K) have more or less outsourced their complexity to their filament. If filament isn't +/- 0.05 mm or so, the printer will jam continuously. To do that well, you need some fairly complex laser metrology equipment, the ability to mix and grind plastic, AND a very, very consistent source of material. The companies that do this get bulk recycled byproduct from industrial processes, not consumer materials.

It also sounds like you're looking into grinding up the spools that PLA comes on. Those *aren't* PLA - they are some unknown waste plastic from something else, and their print temperature is unknowable. And what comes out of the mix if they melt it isn't something I'd do without commercial-level ventilation. Mixing  and melting a chunk of something isn't the same as melting a tiny line at a time.

Here's the commercial supplier making a go of it  - but, as you will see, focused on making pellets.  https://www.filabot.com

There are some smaller companies that started out that way, like Filastruder, but they evolved into "make your own filament from pellets."

Finally, PLA is compostable so is not really much of a long-term ecological threat (not in your backyard, since then you will have the pigments and plasticizers in your soil, but commercial landfills will naturally do that). So it's not around as long as, say, water bottles. They would do far more environmental good upping the percentage of stuff that is recycled at your school....maybe working through all these tradeoffs can be their project!

-Joan

Joan Horvath

Co-founder Nonscriptum LLC 3D printing and makertech consultants

 

[John Umekubo]

The one company that does some of this is Replay 3D.

- john

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John Umekubo about.me/jumekubo