Would You be Interested in a Plastic Shredder to Recycle Plastics for 3D Printing?

[Jsreb]

The duration it takes for plastics such as PET to decompose is longer than they have been used for bottling plastic. Therefore all plastic used for water bottles are still in existence. Only about 30% of these end up in landfills and most overflows into the oceans and lakes. Since 3D printing produces a lot of waste, recycling the printed components or any household plastics could make a generous impact on the waste produced. It is understood that a shredder would be useful for a limited 3D printing market (hobbbyists and SMBs with a proper printer). The result can reduce the cost of filament and reduce the amount of plastic waste. Although a shredder would have a rather high cost, it is an investment to save over an extended period of time and provide the benefits of DIY customization for printing.

I appreciate any feedback about this topic so far. I am presenting about the impact 3D printing has on plastic waste and what methods could reduce plastic waste altogether.

[Marm]

My only intent is to recover wasted ABS filament. All my waste goes in a box, and when I have enough, I make filament. I'm looking for grinders and extruders now. I don't care about mixing colors, as most of us make lots of things that aren't color dependent.

So yes, I would be interested in a consumer level grinder.

[Bassna]

I would totally be interested, if the price point was very reasonable and the quality would be good enough to run through a printer. That's just not out yet. Quality, maybe. Price point, no.

Even if it was something that was very slow, but could still eventually turn your old scrap back into usable filament. I'm sure one day it will be there. Not sure when.

I just watched a documentary on Netflix about all the plastic floating around in the ocean's and such. Just imagine when 3D printer's are as common as a regular printer.

[Wolfie]

I would totally be interested, if the price point was very reasonable and the quality would be good enough to run through a printer. That's just not out yet. Quality, maybe. Price point, no.

Even if it was something that was very slow, but could still eventually turn your old scrap back into usable filament. I'm sure one day it will be there. Not sure when.

I just watched a documentary on Netflix about all the plastic floating around in the ocean's and such. Just imagine when 3D printer's are as common as a regular printer.

Rofl! I think I just watched the same thing. Plastic Paradise or something like that? Totally not what I expected it to be.

I am not a treehugger by any stretch but I don't go out of my way to pollute either. The documentary was rather revealing about the problem and the lack of a solution for it.

I think that 3D printing will be a genesis for a change. Not in a bad way either. See, here is my thinking on this. Are we, as 3D enthusiasts, going to sit down and design a thing. Maybe take hours to develop it. Then spend hours waiting for our printer to print it. Then finally use it once and then throw it out the car window? I think not. We have personal time and value invested in that item and we are unlikely to go through the motions for a simple one use item. We are going to make something we can continue to use and reuse over time.

Hopefully these multi-use items will replace the single use items we consume and opt to dispose of now.

Additionally, if we can leverage spent items (single use or not) to produce supplies for the printers, then I see that as a contribution to the solution. We are then at that point, removing waste from the output stream instead of generating it.

We can do that now with the available equipment. Our problem is the same one the silly Prius has. Its more expensive and the manufacturing burden is higher than any potential cost or environmental savings it can provide. People driving Prius's are completely delusional if they think they are saving money or the planet if thats the sole reason for their car. The same holds true of the current crop of shredders and extruders. They are simply too expensive to be actually worth it. ROI in terms of a decade is completely unreasonable for an individual to absorb. Until the shredders and filament extruders become financially viable, only the rare few are going to use them.

When a shredder/extruder combo is down to $300-$500 then the typical 3D print enthusiast can and probably would look at it as a serious solution.