In a first among the growing number of 3D printing service companies, Scuplteo just launched a program to receive back your prototypes and any other obsolete 3D printed parts and recycle them.
Each year, thousands of tons of 3D printing waste ends up in landfills because it is not recycled. Sculpteo hopes its recycling program can spark more businesses and consumers to consider their end-of-lifecycle 3D printed part management.
“With Re-cycleo, we are inaugurating a new, more responsible way of producing, where we offer clients the possibility to upgrade their products,” says Alexandre d’Orsetti, Sculpteo’s CEO. By upgrade, d’Orsetti means the reuse of recycled prints into new material that manufacturers can use for almost any type of plastic product.
Currently, the program is limited in location and material, but Sculpteo hopes to expand if it goes well. Only parts printed by Scupteo qualify for the program, and customers are responsible for shipping them to Sculpteo in France. Locations in North America may come online down the road.
At first, the Re-cycleo program will only recycle nylon (PA 11 and PA12), which is the most popular material used in the 3D printing processes, selective laser sintering (SLS) and Multi-Jet Fusion. It’s also the most used material at Scultpeo. In the works are recycling programs for polypropylene (PP) and the flexible material TPU.
Because nylon is not commonly found in everyday items, it’s hard (if not impossible) to recycle at typical household recycling centers or even industrial waste facilities.
How The Process Works
Companies return their obsolete parts to Sculpteo, where they are bundled with production scrap from the company’s own facility. Once hundreds of kilos of parts are collected, the waste is then crushed into pieces.
To keep the industrial secrecy and confidentiality of their clients, Sculpteo guarantees that they do the grinding themselves inside their factory. The crushed material is then sent to specialty polymer manufacturer Arkema, which recycles it as part of its Virtucycle program.
The nylon waste, once remelted, chilled, and cut into pellets, isn’t destined for 3D printing again but rather for other industrial manufacturing processes, such as injection molding.
In addition to being a recycler, Arkema acts as a matchmaker among its material customers and offers the recycled nylon option.
“More and more, our customers are interested in innovative recycled options in order to drive improved sustainability and circularity in the supply chain,” says Erwoan Pezron, ARkema’s senior vice president for high-performance polymers.
The company says this whole process uses 100% renewable energy.
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