recycling 3D printing materials

Update: see Joe’s comment below with information about an open source filament extruder/recycler. Thanks Joe!

If you haven’t yet, check out this great blog post on recycling of 3D printing materials by i.materialise’s Joris Peels:

Last week in a comment, Paul asked me, “When will more eco and sustainable materials be available for use in these printers? Something like hemp plastic or other biodegradable materials? What are the technical limitations and who is working on them?” His question was a bit too big for a comment so I’m trying to answer it here. Below I outline, very broadly, four mayor developments in recycling and 3D printing. These developments are: recycling existing 3D printing materials, using materials that are already recycled as 3D printing materials, bioplastics & recycling on location.