NOWADAYS, an enormous amount of plastic production and discharge of its waste is causing severe environmental pollution.
It is estimated that each year eight million metric tons of plastic enter the oceans. A large amount of that debris ends up in the digestion system of birds and mammals, killing them in alarming numbers.
Traditional plastic recycling technologies consume huge amounts of raw materials and energy. This is also a big issue.
Thanks to the emerging 3D printing technology which is more resource-saving and enables more efficient and novel designs that contribute to lower manufacturing requirement. Due to its emergence and numerous advantages, 3D printing has been implemented across the globe recently.
For instance, Coca-Cola made 3D printed urban furniture using waste plastic bottles. Moreover, public benches in Amsterdam, beach furniture in Greece, Olympic 2020 (Japan) podiums (98 in total) were all made from local waste plastics.
From its own used packing materials, Audi (German carmaker) is now manufacturing factory assembly parts by 3D printing. Ford (US automaker) is 3D printing valuable parts from plastic dental moulds.
With this new 3D printing of recycling plastics, the future of plastic industry seems more brighter than ever. This could make our earth a better living place, but also for other living creatures (birds/ animals).
Furthermore, this may not only decrease the amount of virgin plastics but it may provide a way to divert plastics from the oceans and landfills due to 70pc-90pc less waste production.
Dr Muhammad Faisal Irfan,
University of Bahrain.