Plumen & Batch.Works: 3D Printed Lampshade Collection Made from Recycled Plastic

3D printing has obviously done a lot of good in many of the major sectors of the world, like aerospace and medical. But, every once in a while, Plumen sneaks in to remind me that the technology is just as useful in the consumer goods market…and can also be just as sustainable.

The designer low energy lighting company, founded nearly a decade ago by Nicolas Roope and Michael-George Hemus, believes that the way to get people on board with energy efficient lighting is by providing them with attractive low energy light bulbs, and all the sustainable accessories that go with them, like lampshades.

Now, Plumen is collaborating with London-based design company Batch.works on a new range of lampshades, 3D printed out of recycled plastic from waste items like water bottles.

“When we first met Batch.works, it seemed like the perfect match. We’re both small businesses with a similar ethos and approach to things. The fact that you can use recycled plastics and they can then be industrially biodegraded or reused again is really fascinating to me, and plays into the circular economy – which we are trying to put into practice everywhere we can,” said Plumen co-founder Hemus.

“To Plumen, 3D-printing is a very exciting opportunity for lighting. 3D-printing allows shapes and forms that are not possible otherwise. More importantly, there is very little waste compared to traditional methods – products are made to order, from recycled plastic bottles and at the end of their lives they can be recycled once again. It’s a sustainable vision for the future.”

The collection’s first two 3D printed shades, Neo by Matthias Lauche and Ribbon by BOLD, were recently released, and are available to purchase from the online stores of both Plumen and Batch.works; more lampshades will be released in 2020.

Neo, based on geometric Art Deco forms, is for Plumen’s Milky Willow bulb, and features two shades stacked one on top of the other in order to frame the Plumen E27 pendant light. Because there are two parts to the Neo shade, it can be created in multiple color combinations.

The Ribbon shade has a more fluid surface, thanks to the capabilities of 3D printing, and bends over itself to, as Plumen explained in a press release, “surround and protect” its Milky Wilma bulb.

“The space created by the shade is filled with light, revealing and emphasising the different volumes created by the enveloping surface,” the release continues. “The vertical lines that run through the shade, combined with the horizontal layers that are characteristic of this manufacturing technique, amplify the appearance of a piece of textile that’s solidified around the light – directing it and enhancing it. Light peeks through the shade’s open space, allowing the iconic bulb to be seen from another angle.”

As part of the companies’ continuing commitment to reduce and reuse plastic, each of the 3D printed lampshades is fully recyclable. The shades are all made at Batch.works’ east London headquarters, as the company is also committed to local manufacturing, and are printed on-demand using filament from Amsterdam-based social enterprise Reflow, which also re-purposes plastics that would otherwise be wasted. Additionally, the shades can also be returned to Batch.works for recycling once they’ve reached the end of their lifespan.

“We believe that thinking more carefully about what materials are used, and how things are produced, is key to combating short-termism. That’s why this kind of collaboration is so promising. We believe 3D printing can be scaled to a wider variety of products, and become a practical manufacturing method for the future – and that’s what we want to achieve,” stated former architect Julien Vaissieres, who founded Batch.works in 2016 with a goal of making eco-friendly, affordable 3D printed products.

Batch.works created the Plumen lampshade collection with the help of five different design studios. Black and white are the currently the only available colors, though you can request custom ones, dependent on volume. The 3D printed Neo shade is £149, while the Ribbon is £199…a lot more than I’d typically spend on a lampshade, really, but I love that they are completely sustainable.

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[Images provided by Urban Alps]

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Microsoft Community Pitch-Off: Turning Plastic Waste Into Educational Supplies with 3D Printing

People across the globe are harnessing the power of new technologies in a search for sustainable, low-cost, and localized solutions to life that will eventually deal with some of Earth’s most imminent problems, like pandemics, global warming, and plastics contamination. Particularly concerned about the future of sustainable education, three Arizona State University (ASU) students won $6,000 in startup funds for their new circular economy project through the Microsoft Community Impact Pitch-Off in late November. Hoping to meet the needs of underserved high school students in the Phoenix metro area, Brian Boyle, Matthew Burmeister and Andrew John De Los Santos (three master’s students from the School of Sustainability) created The Circular Classroom. It is an embodiment of their belief that technology could help transform hard-to-recycle plastic waste into low-cost 3D printed educational materials. Additionally, the project truly touches on all three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic and social.

Graphic by The Circular Classroom team

According to the trio, the Circular Classroom aims to address a myriad of community needs in the Phoenix area, where many local high schools suffer from a lack of funding, which creates barriers to technology and learning opportunities. Meanwhile, schools and society at large are creating plastic waste streams that are not easily recyclable. For example, they were concerned with plastic bottle caps made out of polypropylene which does not biodegrade, meaning it would take hundreds of years for them to decompose in a landfill, and if not recycled, these caps can turn up in the water and pose a danger to marine life because of their small size. In the United States, 2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour, and each one of them has a cap on, which is another reason why this project is so important.

The winners of the challenge claim that now students will have the opportunity to be introduced to a circular economy model where they can produce 3D printing educational materials from what would otherwise be a plastic waste. In doing so, it generates an opportunity to increase high school graduation rates by keeping students engaged in classrooms, reduce the school budget on 3D printing filament by providing them with the technology to generate their own filament from plastic waste, and build capacity which can create pathways to employment or higher education by training students on Computer-Aided Design (CAD).

“Our excitement and motivation for The Circular Classroom stems from the opportunity to introduce a circular economy education model into local high schools,” said Boyle, who is pursuing a Masters degree on Sustainability Solutions at ASU. “We are unaware of schools currently providing this learning opportunity to students, yet feel that it is imperative to give exposure to the next generation and empower students by building capacity to address contemporary challenges surrounding waste. Furthermore, by prioritizing underserved high schools, we aim to provide technological aptitude and learning opportunities for students to persist in high school graduation and beyond.”

They have come up with a process that is fun and simple. First off, they need to collect bottle caps at schools, so they plan to begin by identifying a local high school to establish a partnership, select interested teachers, engage students, and then set up collection sites in the classrooms. Then the plastic waste is transformed into 3D printing filament, and finally, they can 3D print new designs for educational supplies using the new 3D printers that some local high schools have received through a grant.

Boyle, Burmeister and De Los Santos took home $1,000 in prize money and $5,000 in implementation funds to start putting their plan into action. They will use the funds to purchase technology that local high schools can use to shred plastic into plastic flakes and then extrude them into spools for their 3D printers (they are currently considering buying ReDeTec’s Protocycler+). Boyle estimates that with the funding and right high school partnership opportunities, they could implement and pilot for The Circular Classroom in up to two local schools. In addition to Microsoft, the team is partnering with GreenLight Solutions, an organization that will provide ASU student support for training teachers on how to use the shredder/grinder and 3D printer.

Two of the three team members receive the $6,000 check

The idea originally came from a video of a volunteer-based 3D printing operation using plastic bottle caps in Bali, Indonesia, and from one of the team member’s experiences attending public schools in the Phoenix metro area. Now it has led the three bright minds to become winners of the Microsoft Community Pitch-Off, an event co-sponsored by Microsoft and Net Impact (a nonprofit organization for students and professionals interested in using business skills in support of various social and environmental causes) that gives students the opportunity to propose a solution that addresses a problem in their local community. Both judges from Microsoft and the local community were in charge of evaluating the proposals.

Microsoft is on point with its environmental sustainability efforts and is committed to addressing important challenges for communities where their data centers operate, so through community partnerships, the multinational company creates shared value while also advancing social opportunity, enhancing economic growth, and supporting environmental sustainability. To enter the program, the students had to present their idea for how to best leverage Microsoft’s initiatives and local community priorities to address an important issue in their area.

The platform for this particular education model is based around 3D printing and resource recovery, giving a chance to Microsoft volunteers to provide their technical expertise to students. These volunteers could help mentor students on how to use the 3D CAD software necessary to 3D print. They can also take any collected bottle caps to donate as 3D printing feedstock at the schools. While non-profit Green Light Solutions has undergraduate and graduate consultants that could guide teachers on the operations of the shredder/grinder and 3D printer.

Students don’t only get the chance to explore their local area to assess local challenges or create strategies to address them, this opportunity also gives them a greater understanding of collaborations and local resources, as well as demonstrable experience in taking an idea and turning it into a fully developed project. How would you use 3D printing to help your local community?

[Image credit: ASU, Net Impact and Microsoft]

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Brazil: Researchers Test the Potential of Recycling PLA for Greater Sustainability in 3D Printing

Brazilian researchers are interested in furthering not only the benefits of 3D printing but also the advantages of PLA’s biodegradability for ease in recycling. Their findings are further outlined in the recently published, ‘Recovery and recycling of a biopolymer as an alternative of sustainability for 3D printing.’ With the intent to motivate users to follow through with mechanical recycling of PLA, the researchers have started a program to do so on their end at the Materials and Design Laboratory at University of State of Pará.

3D printer on the left and PLA filament coil ready to be printed.

As the problem of trash and waste disposal—and the ever-growing amount of plastic—continues to be an enormous point of concern regarding our planet and the ongoing havoc humans wreak—alternatives must be considered for many different materials. Polylactic acid (PLA) is attractive to many users because it is a non-toxic, thermoplastic material—a biopolymer—and it is biodegradable due to its plant-based origins. While PLA and its other popular cousin in 3D printing, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) are both extremely popular, the business of materials is exploding within the industry—and with more prints comes more discards.

With PLA at least there is more of a head-start regarding a positive environmental factor, and users—as well as the industry overall—should realize their options in recycling and leaving behind even less of a footprint. The researchers were able to collect PLA from a local 3D printing services bureau for recycling, and material was separated out by color, and then dried. Afterward, they added wood granules and jute to the PLA material. The material was then melted and analyzed by the team.

“The addition of lignocellulosic reinforcements to thermoplastic polymers is environmentally interesting,” stated the researchers. “The wood waste can return to the production chain and can generate new products when added to thermoplastic resins. The jute fiber mainly used in packaging can now be able to generate other products with PLA biopolymer.”

PLA wastes used in this work (left), enameled pan and silicone mold (right)

PLA waste can be easily recycled due to the low melting temperature of this polymer. The tablets can be saved to use in other researches, or mixed with cellulosic fibers to consolidate composite plates.

Plates of PLA recycled with the addition of wood granules consolidate with no pressure, showing mold contact surface and the opposite surface, where we can observe that the fast cooling after leaked promote an irregular surface texture mainly on the free surface of the sample.

It is possible to observe the aspects of the plates produced with the recycled PLA with addition of jute fiber of 1.5 to 2,00 centimeter, consolidated under pressure, showing the regularity on the surface on both sides. For these samples light color waste was selected.

“Considering the problem of the increase of materials waste generated from 3D printing, a process that tends to become popular, and few researches were found in the literature focusing on the recycling of these materials, this work contributed to the identification the residue of PLA discarded in the digital manufacturing activities as a possible raw material for new products through the recycling process.”

“The waste recycling of 3D printing is a sustainability alternative for this activity; As future research it is proposed to carry out physical and mechanical characterization of the samples made from the recycled PLA,” concluded the researchers.

While recycling is an ongoing conversation around the world, it is especially emphasized in the realm of 3D printing where a wide range of plastics are used and often discarded. Researchers and enthusiasts around the world are engaged in innovative projects to recycle powder into filament, into prosthetics, and even metal stock into components for the military. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source / Images: ‘Recovery and recycling of a biopolymer as an alternative of sustainability for 3D printing’)

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Halifax e-NABLE Branch Recycling Plastic Weed Container Lids into 3D Printed Prosthetic Limbs

Jake Boudreau [Image: CBC News]

Last year, Halifax resident Jacob Boudreau, who works for a logistics company, watched a TED Talk by heartwarming 3D printed prosthetics volunteer organization e-NABLE, and was inspired to open his own non-profit e-NABLE chapter, called Kindness3D.

Boudreau said, “This project really resonated with me because it’s the perfect marriage between health and tech.”

Isabella, from Nosara, Costa Rica, received a 3D printed prosthetic hand from Kindness3D. [Image: Kindness3D]

Things started off normally enough, with Kindness3D using regular PLA material to fabricate prosthetics, including a 3D printed hand and arm for Brazilian athlete Kelly De Oliveira Malaquias and a hand for a young girl in Costa Rica.

But Boudreau’s work to provide 3D printed prosthetics is now dovetailing with another passion – recycling plastic waste from what he refers to as the “excessive cannabis packaging conundrum” of the NSLC (Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation), the province’s legal cannabis distributor.

Boudreau said, “There’s no real plan in place for how much waste is being put through the NSLC.”

Recently, Canada became the first major world economy to legalize recreational marijuana. But many customers in Nova Scotia are criticizing the NSLC for using excessive packaging for the product. Cannabis guidelines for Health Canada say that the packaging must be tamper-proof, child-resistant, and prevent contamination.

Easy Cheesy cannabis, purchased at the NSLC in Halifax. [Image: CBC News]

While the white plastic containers that Canada’s pot comes in do meet these guidelines, some consumers say they are environmentally unfriendly and not able to be recycled. Boudreau says that all of the lids will eventually end up in landfills…so he’s taking action.

Just like the Million Waves Project uses recycled ocean plastic to make 3D printed prosthetic limbs, Boudreau and Kindness3D want to use these plastic pot container lids to make 3D printed prosthetics for kids.

“We just noticed that there was an obscene amount of waste. To me it seemed incredibly wasteful. It was actually frustrating for me as a consumer,” Boudreau said.

He first got the idea to recycle the plastic cannabis lids into plastic for 3D printed prosthetic limbs when customers asked him if he could help with the waste problem.

“We jumped on board, noticing that there wasn’t really a plan in place to deal with this kind of waste. It’s something we’re really excited about,” Boudreau said. “We’re doing our part to kind of help out and as well repurpose this packaging and create some artificial limbs from it.”

Lizzy Brown of Kindness3D holds up an empty cannabis package at the recent workshop in Halifax. The group is asking Haligonians to drop off the used caps from cannabis packaging at various spots around the city for them to be shredded and turned into 3D printed prosthetics. [Image: Fadila Chater, Star Metro]

First, Kindness3D modified a paper shredder so it could be used to break down the plastic pot container lids, so the shredded plastic could be used in the organization’s 3D printer. Then, it began to ask other local businesses to collect the used lids. Now, Kindness3D asks Nova Scotians to bring the empty cannabis containers, lids and all, to Boudreau’s Dalhousie University Sexton Campus operation, and various other drop-off points, for recycling and reprocessing into prosthetic limbs.

Boudreau hopes to use the lids of cannabis containers to make prosthetic limbs. [Image: CBC, Kindness3D]

Since beginning the cannabis lid recycling project, Boudreau is already working to complete a 3D printed prosthetic arm for a four-year-old girl in California. Additionally, he started a petition in hopes of convincing the NSLC to collect and donate all of its used cannabis packaging to Kindness3D.

But, according to NSLC spokesperson Beverley Ware, the corporation has not been contacted by Kindness3D yet…maybe it’s waiting to get a certain number of signatures first?

Ware is also requesting that customers continue to follow the recycling programs already set up in their communities.

Ware explained, “We do not recycle bottle or cans and don’t have the room in our stores to provide such a drop-off service or the infrastructure to deliver products for recycling.”

I hope this recycling initiative by Kindess3D doesn’t turn into some kind of legal battle. I understand that there are rules for a reason, and maybe the infrastructure doesn’t allow for this sort of program just yet. But the non-profit is trying to do a very noble thing in both recycling large amounts of wasteful plastic and providing 3D printed prosthetics to the people who need them most, so I hope that everything will work out in the end.

[Image: Kindness3D]

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Print Your Mind 3D Launches 3D Printer Filament Recycling Challenge for High School Students

In response to the ever-growing problem of 3D printing filament waste, Calgary-based professional desktop 3D printer provider and social enterprise Print Your Mind 3D, which works to always practice business in a socially responsible way, is tasking high school students in Alberta with crowdsourcing viable solutions to turn this wasted plastic into useful products and tools. This is the focus of the company’s latest challenge for its Enviromakers initiative, which aims to build a community of makers, designers, and engineers to work together to create solutions, using 3D printing, for real-world problems.

“From functional prints for everyday use, to medical and even aerospace engineering applications 3D printing is changing the way we design, prototype and create. As this usage continues to rise, sustainable measures and practices are becoming a larger and larger priority. While 3D printing provides a much cheaper and somewhat environmentally friendly option, as anyone with a 3D printer knows, filament waste tends to build up fairly quickly. This waste comes in the form of support material, failed print, and obsolete projects,” the background for the PLA Recycling Challenge reads.

“This competition aims to utilize 3D printed waste filament as an opportunity to educate students about the importance of sustainable development, technology and practices. Furthermore, we challenge students to propose creative and innovative ways to recycle or reuse waste filament in their local community.”

The challenge is open to any Alberta student in grades 10-12, though it’s recommended to have a teacher help champion a team. Participants must propose and develop a plan for either converting waste PLA material, or reusing it, in order to make a new tool or product. The plan has to include everything that would needed to execute the idea, in addition to a clearly articulated description of how it will be used and what makes it different. Students can create an entirely new idea, or build and improve upon previous applications.

The deadline for initial proposal submission is November 15th, after which a panel of recycling industry experts will select the top ten teams to go on as finalists. The finalists will get to build working prototypes and showcase them at a live event in June.

In order to make it to the final level, teams should include a viable plan for the final product, which includes the following:

  • Project description that identifies the problem and how the proposal will address it
  • Technical approach that describes how the solution works and will be built and implemented
  • Budget estimate and list of materials and equipment needed to build the solution
  • Expected timeline for how long it will take to develop the initial project iteration
  • Breakdown of economic viability, including how much it costs to produce the solution

In addition, because PLA has several limitations, such as needing special precautions so it is food-safe, participants should clearly explain how they will address these challenges.

The teams will be judged on criteria such as feasibility, impact, novelty, how they address material limitations, and overall presentation. In addition, while there is technically no challenge budget for teams, proposals will be judged, at least in part, on their resourcefulness.

“The best solutions may not be the ones that require the most expensive equipment,” Print Your Mind 3D warns in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the challenge.

The grand prize will be a new Ultimaker 2+ 3D printer, which will come with the Ultimaker app, swappable 0.25, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 mm nozzles, a 0.75 kg spool of silver PLA filament, Cura print preparation software, a calibration card for build plate leveling, a 12-month warranty, and lifetime support from Print Your Mind 3D, in addition to items like a USB cable and glue stick. Additional prizes will be announced in the coming weeks.

To register a high school team for the new Print Your Mind 3D PLA Recycling Challenge, visit the challenge website.

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