A Word on our Recycling Efforts

Celebrating 17,000 kgs of recycled materials! Here's to many more!!!

Since the beginning, Protopasta has made decisions with a sustainability lens. As plastics manufacturers, the environmental impacts of our business are not lost on us, so we strive to cut our negative contributions wherever we can.  

Our first step was providing recyclable cardboard spools. Since 2009, the cardboard recycling rate in the US has been at least 82%, steadily climbing as more and more counties provide access to cardboard recycling, while also informing customers of best practices. A whopping 94% of Americans have access to community recycling programs, making this the most readily available means of managing waste.

Statistics courtesy of the American Forest and Paper Association 

These spool sides are also locally sourced, allowing us to reduce our carbon footprint while supporting our local economy! Because they are lightweight, we're further reducing our impact when shipping orders to customers. Additionally, while our spools are easily recycled, they are also durable enough for reuse time and time again!

Now about that plastic, which has low recycling rates and is difficult to recycle...

In 2019, Trash Hackers inspired us by converting our waste PLA into sheets to make new beautiful things! We featured keychains cut from recycled sheet that they made in our first ever Endless PLA delivery. This blog also shares recommendations for conditions to make your own sheet from waste plastic.

In 2020, we launched PETG with two options: New PETG and Recycled PETG. The recycled PETG was purchased from a post-industrial waste source, but we struggled with raw material quality which was reduced compared to new. This made for additional manufacturing challenges. In total, we processed nearly 7000 kg of recycled PETG before switching to 100% new PETG for improved quality.

Quality is key to avoid more waste. Garbage in, garbage out. Recovering our own, high-quality waste to reprocess into recycled material has been a huge success.

In 2021, we started making Recycled PLA from our own high-quality, out-of-spec filament. Spooled filament with incorrect diameter or color, but good chemistry can be unwound and chopped up to make pellets (see below) that are easily reprocessed.

This has been a huge win for us, our customers, and the environment. Since the introduction of our recycled materials, we have "rescued" over 10,000 kgs* of waste from our dumpster and landfills! For perspective, that's the equivalent of almost 24 million plastic straws** or 1.8 million standard plastic grocery bags***.

This as a huge accomplishment in a short time, and we are excited to propel this venture forward with more recycled materials, including restocking Recycled PLAs and adding Recycled PETGs from new material waste.

Can we recycle your 3D prints?

Folks often ask, "Can I send you my scraps to be recycled into new filaments?" Sorry, no, but thank for your shared interest in reducing waste and environmental impact! We still have more of our own waste reprocess. This is the lowest effort and highest quality recycling opportunity we have, and thus our first priority until we have exhausted it.

It's not that we haven't considered recycling consumer prints. We've made some test with customer prints along with Out of Darts, a local print farm customer that exclusively uses Protopasta. This is scenario is our best opportunity for recycling prints, because of the volume, proximity, and known material input.

Still, reprocessing customer prints requires shredding. This yields irregular bits and pieces that don't mechanically flow like pellets (see below). These shreds *can* be extruded when babysat, but at a reduced quality and higher effort + cost. Recycled filaments already cost more to produce, but, unfortunately, consumers expect to pay less. Would you pay more for filaments made from recycled prints?

If collecting from consumers more widely, the material input becomes more variable. PLA, PETG, and others plastic waste can easily get mixed. Additionally, what each manufacturer calls PLA and PETG varies in chemistry and composition. This variation can cause fluctuations in pressure + diameter and hinder mechanical performance for more brittle filament with reduced layer adhesion. Would you pay more for lower quality filament?

Collecting small amounts of plastic from all over the world will have a high shipping cost, footprint, and logistical effort for relatively small amounts of plastic. Would you pay to ship your waste 3D prints to us?

The added costs and variability of recycling 3D prints adds up. This is not an excuse to not recycle, but why we focus our recycling efforts internally on our own waste. We're making the most effective use of our available time and resources.

Passionate and committed to reducing your waste and impact? Choose Protopasta Filaments for quality, reliability, and value when printing! For your waste? We hope you find inspiration in the work from Trash Hackers or others. Melt your own sheet or find other ways to recycle and inspire others!

All our best,

Heidi and the Protopasta Team

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*As of date of publication

**Assuming a weight of ~.42g

***Assuming a weight of ~5.5g