Mobile Fab 3D printer and Plastic Recycler on Wheels

[Maggie]

I thought this was simply an awesome idea. A company call Mobile Fab drives bikes around which have 3d printers as well as a plastic grinder and filament extruder on board. They then allow Taiwanese citizens to turn in their plastic bottles, milk jugs, etc, and watch the action. They first shred the plastic, then put it into a small machine which spits out plastic filament. After that, they use the filament in a 3D printer to print out a little token for the person. Usually this whole process takes just over 30 minutes. Take a look at the Mobile fab setup:



The goal of Han Kaiyu, the founder is to spread the idea of recycling and 3D printing. He said

, "We want to use the most familiar method to promote 3D printing. The Mobile Fab with a plastic shredder, a filament extruder and a 3D printer is a small mobile factory. People only need to bring plastic products such as plastic bottles, plastic bags or cups and hand them to the cyclist. They can then see how the materials are turned into 3D printer materials. The 3D printer can then use the material and print out different white badges we designed for them. This whole process takes less than half an hour."

Here is a look at the shredded plastic:


This is what the 3D printed tokens look like:

[QuitNoMore]

This is a pretty cool idea. I just don't understand the whole point of giving out printed tokens. Why not print something useful?