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May 2015
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Sep 2015
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BFFactory
May '15

To help reduce plastic waste and redefine the way we produce plastic products, Rotterdam based ‘Refil’ launches fully recycled filament that’s made from old car dashboards. It’s called ‘Refilament (recycled filament) and using it instead of ordinary filament, makes everything you make recycled as well. From 3D printed vases, toys and jewellery to architectural models, prosthetics and other plastic products… They all become recycled products when you print them with refilament.

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In the introduction film, Refil calls out to all makers to ‘start making things right’.

The basis of Refil was the Perpetual Plastic Project (see perpetualplasticproject.com 1), which started several years ago on multiple music festivals. Instead of producing plastic rings, Refil now uses their recycling system to make recycled filament. With refilament, Refil aims to produce recycled filament in an industrial scale and high quality, making recycled plastic a new standard in 3D printing.

Refilament is currently available in two colours:

Dashboard Black refilament 1; 100% recycled and made from old car dashboards, door panels and other ABS parts coming mainly from Volvos and Audis.

PET Bottle Translucent refilament 1; made from old PET bottles and up to 90% recycled!

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Refilament is sold on cardboard spools carrying 750 grams of plastic. Dashboard black is priced 32 euros per spool and PET Translucent sells for 40 euros per spool (both prices are included VAT). Refilament is certified with REACH and is RoHS compliant. All the ingredients in refilament are thoroughly monitored to make sure that they don’t contain any hazardous substances like flame retardants.

Underlining our vision on sustainability, both refilaments are distributed on recycled cardboard spools. This way its users and nature won’t end up with more waste. The empty spools can be disposed and recycled with other household paper waste and the packaging of the filament can be used as labels to show that you printed with Recycled filament, instead of ordinary.

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We are currently also researching new materials. We’re pretty far with a HIPS Refilament which is made from the inside of refrigerators and a flexible synthetic rubber one, again coming from the car industry. Just like our PET and Dashboard Black we will only bring it to market when the quality equals the existing filaments or is even better. We would love to see your 3D prints made of refilament.

For more information about refil and our refilament visit: re-filament.com 3

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  • created

    May '15

  • last reply

    Sep '15
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Luuk
May '15

@, really nice stuff! I can’t wait to get my hands on one of those spools. Quality in the pictures looks awesome!

fairphone_api
May '15

Wow, that’s really cool.

Would love to test it sometime. Going to discuss with my colleagues.

EDIT: just got confirmation. We are already testing the material for Fairphone cases and other objects :smiley:

3DAmsterdam
May '15

Ik print nog niet zo veel met ABS maar als ik weer materiaal nodig heb ga ik dit zeker uitproberen. :slight_smile:

Goed initiatief

Martin20118
May '15

Great initiative! Makes me wonder, how about ABS waste material like supports and failed prints? Would be awesome if this could be send back and recycled for a small fee.

Creastudiostore
May '15

I think that the idea of recycling is the way to go if we want to conserve this planet, but selling this product to such a high price is like turning back when you already started walking in the right direction. Has a consumer, for that price i prefer to buy a good PLA filament instead of a filament made from recycled materials.The point should be to sell at a lower price, since the company does not pay for the raw material, or even is payed to get rid of, and a way to incentivate people for a sustainable consume.

Then i have some questions about the toxic fumes that can result in the printing process.

Denise_van_der
May '15

Let me know if it works. I ordered a fairphone sleeve coupon but couldn’t find a printer nearby who could print it using sustainably produced filament.

fairphone_api
May '15

Sounds like a valid point by @Creastudiostore

Though what I can imagine is that in the research for getting so far that recycled material is of a good enough quality time and money is spend making this a more expensive product. Maybe it needs more time to become cheaper, not sure though.

Good one to start a discussion :wink:

BFFactory
May '15

Thank you for your comment. We have tested with several “free” raw materials, but the quality was not up to our standard. Therefore we are using very specific waste streams for which we do have to pay, however we can guarantee the same great quality over different batches. We have done a lot of research and testing to get to the point where we are now. Our current volumes are relatively expensive to produce, moreover recycling requires some extra steps in the production process like shredding. We are definitely challenging ourselves to lower prices, while offering a high quality product. At the same time we are challenging you as a maker, making the next industrial revolution a sustainable one by printing with refilament instead of ordinary filament.

Creastudiostore
May '15

I understand that you have spent time and money in research to achieve this product that can , in a certain way benefit the environment, but you have to understand the market laws. If the price is high, few people buy. If the price is low a lot of people will buy and the cost of production and research can be rapidly pay. Is your bet. When you say that the makers community should try to make the “next industrial revolution a sustainable one”, it’s a nonsense because it already is. PLA is a bioplastic, and this type of material is expected to make major contributions to environmental protection. Also, PLA can be shredded and extruded again, using the several home filament extruders like filabot,filastruder, EWE, etc. So, the recycling process can be done by almost every maker, with its own printing waste. The second point is the health security in using your filament. Do you have certificates that prove that it is not dangerous to bread the fumes produced by the printing process?

flowalistik
May '15

I’ve had an inner debate about all the environmental issues related to 3D printing, but in the end both PLA and ABS were bad for the planet, as they both generate waste. In terms of sustainability, I believe that Refil has made the best decision, even though that meant having a higher price.

If we have some plastic parts from old cars and then we produce some PLA, we will have more material produced than in the Refil case, in which they take material that has already been produced and transform it so we can re-use it. The price will be higher than regular filament, but their target won’t be those people who want the cheapest material, no matter how it was produced.

Everyone should admit that when people say that PLA is eco-friendly, sustainable and all that things, it’s because of MARKETING. The spools in which PLA come are made of ABS, and when a print fails, it will end in the trash no matter it’s ABS or PLA. Also, PLA also produces fumes, the only difference is that they don’t smell as bad as the ABS ones. That people can’t smell it doesn’t mean it isn’t killing you slowly. Anyway, with all the cars in the cities, the fumes 3D printers produce shouldn’t get so many attention.

I don’t think the Refil founders will be rich by the end of the year, but I’m really proud of them, because they give more importance to recycling rather than filling their pockets with money.

The actual 3D printing industry will not be sustainable until we change the bioplastic to recycled plastic.

fairphone_api
May '15

So true, and I think we have to remember this is actually a start.

Just think about it that in the future our plastic waste doesn’t have to go on the waste belt, but can actually be reused in 3D printing.

Now it is dashboards, next step might be plastic bags (although that might be a couple of more steps, but you get the point).
As some would say (and I agree): Recycle or Die.

Creastudiostore
May '15

PLA is 100% recyclable, and one can do it at home with a simple filament extruder and without the need of sofisticated industrial tecnology. For that reason i hope that in the near future car dashboards and shopping bag will be made from PLA so i can recycle myself and never buy PLA filament spools again. I leave you an interesting video : - YouTube

fairphone_api
May '15

@Nancy you are aware that the people from your video are the same people from the @?

I think the great thing here is that with Refill they take it a step further. It is not just PLA, it is a step towards any kind of plastic.

Creastudiostore
May '15

Yes i am. I have never been against them or their project. But i still think that price is high.

fairphone_api
May '15

ok, price is a bit steep indeed, but he explained well why this is so I can understand.

I see it as a good starting point. Now it is expensive in a couple of years it might be the regular thing to do and it is cheap :smiley:

17 days later
Fargo3D
May '15

Just to address your point about the spools themselves being made out of ABS, we’ve come out with a spool that is made from PLA and agricultural waste products, namely flax shive. We call it the Eco-Spool. I think the big deal is that bio-plastics are renewable and will eventually degrade, versus petroleum-based plastics.

4 months later
BFFactory
Sep '15

Hi Jeroen,

We’re making small (technical) changes to the website, so that’s why it could be offline for a very short period of time.

It should be working at the moment, let me know if this is not the case. You can also contact us directly via info@refil.nl

Best,

Casper

Refil

BFFactory
Sep '15

Hehe, absolutely not. It’s alive and kicking. We’re expanding our reseller channels, researching new materials/colours and we’re even nominated for a sustainability price from the Plastic Soup Foundation.

17 days later