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Sep 2015

Hi there, I have a big thrash bag full of PLA as a result of my first 3/4 year of 3D printing, along with its many failures, mistakes, printer problems, etc. I would love to bring this to a person/company that recycles the stuff, perhaps for a small fee. Is anyone doing this in NL? In particular in Amsterdam. I hate to just throw the stuff into the ordinary trash, and I can’t put it with the plastic recycling, because the Amsterdam plastic recycling facilities don’t deal with PLA.

I can’t image that I’m the only one with this ever increasing problem!

Thanks!

Paul

  • created

    Sep '15
  • last reply

    Oct '17
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Hey Paul, we have just kicked off a recycling program 163 with 3 Hubs around the world - London, Boston and Breda. @Jeffrey_1 in Breda will be able to give you more details on how to get in touch about this. It’s great to see people taking the initiative, so please keep us posted with your recycling endeavours. Cheers

Great request with the right sustainability approach Paul! Despite I develop and produce recycled PLA filament I cannot make use of your stuff, because we carefully select recycled sources based on quality and long term availability. Maybe recycler Icova, a collerctor and processor of waste sources, might help you. Good luck!

PS. more info about recycled PLA filament (in Dutch), see InnoCircle komt met gerecyclede PLA-filamenten in 6 kleuren 83

JW

I bought some time ago an filament extruder machine, but still need to test it (preferably outside the house). Maybe we can give it a try with the pla leftovers. Before the machine can handle it, the material needs to be cut to small particles. Not sure if this would work in a high power blender or with some other power tool.

Unfortunately not in NL, but I’m able to recycle the materials. (germany: landshut (munich area))

Just hope you’re not in a hurry. Might take a while to shred and wind the Filament :slight_smile:

Hi Gabriela, I would love to join in with this as the Amsterdam based hub. Is this possible? What would it take do to so? Thanks!

2 months later

Very interesting. I just read your presentation and I sent you both an e-mail. Please let me know if you want my garbage bag full of PLA.

So I had contact with you and I was told “my consumer grade PLA filament is not good enough for our processing, but please buy our recycled filament”. This is not getting me any further in getting my PLA to a place where it can be used properly. I was also told I can “just compost it”, but unfortunately I live in Amsterdam where we do not have compost waste separated (it’s all just burned for electricity).

So I am back to square one, and my pile of PLA is just growing.

I do have an offer to send it to Germany, to Hub Collin, but this seems not a very economical thing to do, shipping this large bag over. And what about future bags…

I hope someone will start recycling consumer grade PLA in NL soon!

2 years later

Hi Paul,

I was also looking for recycling alternatives in NL, but it seems there are not that many around here. Did you find a solution for your waste PLA?

Cheers,

Jose