Creating filament for additive printing or with 3D printers is the great technological advance that has been achieved from the recycling of already used sanitary materials. It is the giant step that the industry has achieved after researching and testing new treatments. And specifically, they have outlined it in Australia by reusing materials from personal protective equipment, the so-called PPE.
Around 3.4 billion masks are thrown away every day around the world. During the covid 19 pandemic we have used millions and millions of tons of gloves or masks all over the planet, and giving this material a second life is a very significant volume, since we are talking about disposable or single-use equipment.
An Australian company, 3rd Axis, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) have developed a system capable of recycling waste material from PPE and thereby creating useful filament for additive printing.
After a decontamination process with several treatments, to ensure that they are completely clean of their previous use as PPE. Waste can create a new raw material that can be used by 3D printers and therefore create new objects, parts or elements with a new life and use.
The ingenuity of its researchers to solve a problem of huge amounts of waste, has been key to achieving unprecedented success in the additive printing industry, which, in addition to reducing the carbon footprint of its products made with its 3D printers, now It is also capable of using filaments from reused or recycled materials.
The polymer filament obtained is treated in a process of decontamination of PPE materials, to guarantee maximum safety.
Covid 19 discovered to many what personal protective equipment (PPE) is, that is, a gown, gloves, screen, mask,... or all those elements that serve to protect a health worker in the performance of their work. Now they will have a second life yet to be written, although their defenders are already talking about airplane parts or machinery from various industries, among other purposes.
