The plastic parts of the future will be made recycled and locally

21.12.2016

The use of plastic as a material has increased significantly in recent decades. The utilization of plastic materials in various applications is expected to double over the next 20 years. Plastic is known to be a versatile and cost-effective material, but with its overconsumption, the discussion about its disadvantages has increased.

According to studies, for example, up to 32% of recycled plastic packaging escapes the cycle during collection, causing major economic losses. At the same time, it causes unnecessary overload and problems for important ecosystems, such as the oceans, and has a significant impact on sustainable urban planning. (Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2016.)

Local manufacturing of plastic parts will increase in the future thanks to digitalization. In the future, information can be transferred to the customer and the manufacturing itself can be carried out with a 3D printer close to the customer without having to ship empty boxes around the world.

The most potential applications for 3D printing are related to industrial side streams, i.e. as close as possible to the source of the recycled material. At the source, the company can utilize the material either by manufacturing its own products or by offering the material to a nearby partner.

There are still many challenges and bottlenecks associated with 3D printing of recycled plastics that we need to resolve. First, we have encountered that plastics lack material labels or the labels are incorrect. This makes it difficult to know what the recycled material actually consists of. On the other hand, not all plastics can technically be recycled indefinitely, at least not for the same purpose. A third challenge is that with current skills, recycled plastics cannot be made with properties that are completely equivalent to new ones. For this reason, they should be utilized especially in large parts that do not require as much precision. (See Youtube video on the subject.)

New business models through extensive collaboration and experimentation

The Recycled Plastics 3D Printing Application Laboratory project has been working to find new ways to utilize recycled plastics throughout 2016. The collaboration has involved Turku University of Applied Sciences, Arcada University of Applied Sciences and SYKE. In addition, important partners have included companies from various sectors, such as Ekokem Oyj, 3DTech Oy, Oili Jalonen Oy, LapMek Oy and Prenta Oy.

During the year, the project has carried out extensive processing and testing of plastic materials in order to better identify which recycled plastics are best suited for reuse in 3D printing. Arcada's plastics laboratory has, among other things, tested the production equipment for plastic filament used in 3D printing with virgin plastic materials. In addition, printing filaments have been manufactured from available recycled material.

Under the leadership of Oili Jalonen Oy and 3DTech Oy, which are involved in the project, the suitability of recycled plastics and 3D printing for printing vehicle spare parts has also been investigated. This opening is new both in the automotive and transportation sectors and in the field of 3D printing. Other side streams generated by industry, such as waste plastics from shipyards, are also currently being tested in the materials technology laboratory of Turku University of Applied Sciences. An essential part of the project is also a life cycle assessment of centralized and decentralized production of 3D printing, which SYKE is carrying out in cooperation with other project partners.

One of the key goals of the project is also to identify potential business models based on the research. The project examines what kind of industrial-scale products and models could be created around recycled plastics and 3D printing. We also aim to expand the network around the theme both nationally and internationally. Fruitful collaboration has been established with, among others, Manchester Metropolitan University, which has also extensively researched recycled plastics and 3D printing.

In order to create a broader business based on the activities, multidisciplinary cooperation and experts from different fields are needed. We are therefore happy to cooperate with companies from different fields both during the project period and afterwards. The project phase ends at the end of May 2017, but work on the topic will continue after this. So feel free to contact us, we will be happy to tell you more!

Jenni Suominen

Project Specialist, Turku University of Applied Sciences

jenni.suominen(at)turkuamk.fi