green
Bluesint: Materialise Now Able to Recycle 100% of Sintering Powder for SLS 3D Printing
Even though we in the 3D printing industry often tout our technology’s environmental benefits, we do produce waste. In the case of powder bed fusion (PBF), we produce a lot…
The Brittle Spear, Part I: A Disposable World
As the tip of a spear grows ever sharper, it also becomes more brittle. Much has been said about planned obsolescence where companies engineer products to fail earlier than they…
AMGTA Commissions First Research Project on Environmental Sustainability of Metal 3D Printing
In November, the non-commercial, global trade group AMGTA, or the Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association, was launched in order to promote the many environmental, green benefits of using additive manufacturing…
3D Printing and Mass Customization, Hand in Glove Part IV
Earlier in this series, we’ve discussed how we’re drunk on consumption, how we use up too much material, and that recycling has some constraints. Now we’ll look at how creating…
3D Printing and Mass Customization, Hand in Glove Part III
As discussed in the first and second installments of this series, we are drifting into a consumption-driven stupor and self-medicating our way through lives that, if we live in OECD…
3D Printing and Mass Customization, Hand in Glove Part II
In the first article in this series, I laid out a consumer consumption-driven world where our needs are never quite met by things. Our needs are now mistranslated into a…
New Method for Circular Chemical Recycling of PLA
In existing mechanical recycling processes, plastic items are chopped into fine pieces, melted and extruded into new plastic feedstock, which causes them to degrade in quality. Recycled virgin plastic is…
Industrie 4.0: Mein Har(t)z Brennt Part 2 Doubleplusgood
In the face of apathy, new dreams are emerging. From a technocratic perspective, these new dreams make sense. But just as we’ve seen with the European dream, an ever closer…