A collaboration between Renew IT and the UNSW SMaRT Centre has begun turning discarded hard plastics into 3D printer feedstock via SMaRT’s first commercially-run Plastics Filament MICROfactorie^TM.

A UNSW-invented Plastics Filament MICROfactorie^TM Technology module has been installed at Renew IT’s Sydney warehouse in Lane Cove, Sydney, and is fully operational by turning plastics destined for landfill into valuable filament, as reported in media including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

UNSW SMaRT Centre Founder and Director, Professor Veena Sahajwalla said “commercialising our Plastics Filament MICROfactorie^TM Technology has taken a lot of time and effort, but it is a sustainable waste, recycling and manufacturing solution. We’re turning the hard plastics found in all modern electronic hardware but not subject to conventional recycling methods, into feedstock for a booming sector”.

“Filament is almost entirely imported to Australia and made from petrochemicals, so being able to locally make it from used plastics also reduces the environmental impacts from global freight. 3D printing is a wonderful technology enjoying rapid uptake but the tragedy is until now 3D printing has been reliant on virgin plastics.

“These Plastics Filament MICROfactories^TM have the potential to revolutionise 3D printer filament creation. I look forward to a time when 3D printing feedstock is sourced exclusively from recycled plastics,” she said.