New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
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Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#2"Mobile phone case made with 3D printing, using recycled plastic."
I do a lot of 3D printing and I always feel bad every time I have a bad print or design error and need to throw it in the trash. I really hope we can see some of these filaments on the market soon especially considering how popular 3D printing is becoming.
Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#3They say "new ... plastic" but the paper looks like it's talking about Polyethylene (not too sure what "polyethylene-like" means, different degrees of polymerization?)
Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#4"Mobile phone case made with 3D printing, using recycled plastic." I do a lot of 3D printing and I always feel bad every time I have a bad print or design error and need to throw it in the trash. I really hope we can see some of these filaments on the market soon especially considering how popular 3D printing is becoming.
PLA can be recycled with near perfect efficiency and is available today.
Also it's extremely biodegradable so throwing it out isn't the end of the world.
Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#5There's also a company working on a plastic replacement for mushroom grow bags. It would be biodegradable.
Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#6"Mobile phone case made with 3D printing, using recycled plastic." I do a lot of 3D printing and I always feel bad every time I have a bad print or design error and need to throw it in the trash. I really hope we can see some of these filaments on the market soon especially considering how popular 3D printing is becoming.
PLA can be recycled with near perfect efficiency and is available today. Also it's extremely biodegradable so throwing it out isn't the end of the world.
TIL. Can you tell me more about the recycling process for PLA?
Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#7Plastic recycling seems heavily motivated by emotion and virtue signaling.
In reality, only about 5% of our crude oil use goes towards plastic.
If we rolled out EVs, and then just burned all the plastic trash (using waste-to-energy plants), we would still be far ahead.
The biggest challenges with plastics are hormone disruption, and microplastics (particularly in the 3rd world without sufficient landfill or W2E infrastructure or societal environmental concern). If these new plastics are less molecularly stable, these issues may actually be worsened.
Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#8"Mobile phone case made with 3D printing, using recycled plastic." I do a lot of 3D printing and I always feel bad every time I have a bad print or design error and need to throw it in the trash. I really hope we can see some of these filaments on the market soon especially considering how popular 3D printing is becoming.
PLA can be recycled with near perfect efficiency and is available today. Also it's extremely biodegradable so throwing it out isn't the end of the world.
PLA is pretty useless as a material though for anything but art. Almost everything I print has a functional purpose and either (a) needs mechanical strength (b) will be placed outdoors in the California sun or (c) will be used to house electronics that may reach temperatures as high as 70-80 C.
PLA is basically useless to me and pretty much all roboticists. I use PETG for almost everything because it works perfectly for all my needs; unfortunately I often need to go through about 2-3 versions of many parts I make and wish there were a better, more efficiently recyclable option that has the same or better properties as PETG.
Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
PLA can be recycled with near perfect efficiency and is available today. Also it's extremely biodegradable so throwing it out isn't the end of the world.
PLA is pretty useless as a material though for anything but art. Almost everything I print has a functional purpose and either (a) needs mechanical strength (b) will be placed outdoors in the California sun or (c) will be used to house electronics that may reach temperatures as high as 70-80 C. PLA is basically useless to me and pretty much all roboticists. I use PETG for almost everything because it works perfectly…
If the part doesn't have to last long or is subjected to smaller forces and the robot is kept in a controlled place PLA is fine. We used them it to make parts for robotics competitions in college.
Re: New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
PLA is pretty useless as a material though for anything but art. Almost everything I print has a functional purpose and either (a) needs mechanical strength (b) will be placed outdoors in the California sun or (c) will be used to house electronics that may reach temperatures as high as 70-80 C. PLA is basically useless to me and pretty much all roboticists. I use PETG for almost everything because it works perfectly…
If the part doesn't have to last long or is subjected to smaller forces and the robot is kept in a controlled place PLA is fine. We used them it to make parts for robotics competitions in college.
It really depends on what you're building. For controlled environments that's fine, but unfortunately I'm not building for controlled environments, and tend to do quite extreme things with parts. I need them to be subjectable to force and reasonable amounts of heat. There is no way around it in my applications.
Point is PETG works, sometimes I need to go to CF-Nylon, I'm just looking for something that's as good mechanically and can be recyclable. I wonder if the plastics in the article would work.