3D Printing Waste by-product

Hi everyone,

I am really enjoying my Snapmaker 3D and have made good use of the Laser modules (200mw and 1600mw) and the 3D printer module.

I now have a sizeable collection of PLA waste material from rafts, skirts and supports.

What I really want to know is what are you doing with your waste materials?

  1. Can these be council recycled?
  2. dumped into the household trash for landfill?
  3. reprocessed and reused? and if so, colour sorted or does it not matter?

I’m based in Melbourne Australia so if anyone has any specific local knowledge i’m all ears.

thanks!

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If it is PLA then it is biodegradable and can be thrown out with the rubbish. From the internet “Most biodegradable cups are made from PLA (polylactic acid) plastic. PLA is a polymer made from high levels of polylactic acid molecules. For PLA to biodegrade, you must break up the polymer by adding water to it (a process known as hydrolyzing). Heat and moisture are required for hydrolyzing to occur” and “Q: How long will PLA products take to degrade or compost? PLA products will take up to 6 months to compost in commercial composting facility. In home composting facility, it may take longer time.”

Doug

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Here’s an article on recycling machines to turn waste back into filament.
https://www.machinedesign.com/3d-printing/waste-not-want-not-3d-printing

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https://www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de/en/press-media/2017/bio-based-plastics-recycling.html

I prefer ABS because I can use the rest as paint. You can dissolve ABS in acetone as often as you want. This is not good for every printing object (e.g. not for helmets), but you can recycle waste yourself.

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I also want to know the answer for your post! I think that I can ask someone in this team to get more knowledge about it https://www.filabot.com
If we want to reuse the prints, maybe we can try this project https://all3dp.com/weekend-project-laser-cutting-3d-printed-trash/

Look up filament recycling on utube. I am saving all my waste pla for that purpose. I figure building a filament recycler will cost around 300.$ us, and will get me a lot more to print with.

You will have to save a lot of bad prints when you want to make new filament out of it…
How long will it take for you to produce 1 kg of PLA waste (same colour)?
At $35/kg (converted from my local price in Europe) you will need 9 kg (about 20 pounds) of waste material to start saving money.
Is it wort that if you don’t run a printing business?

I have run across info somewhere, maybe utube, about making filament from plastic water bottles too. And im just mixing all the different colors together, this will be a “test” filament when done. Just keeping pla and abs separate.