1 Topic by bteeter (edited by bteeter 2013-07-20 02:45:06)

  • bteeter
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Topic: plastic recycling and why is it so hard.

Here is a TED talk that I saw some time back on plastic recycling.  The video is about 11 minutes long and well worth watching.
But from Mike's talk has generated a lot of questions and he has answered a lot of them here.  So here is the link to the video and answers.

http://blog.ted.com/2012/10/22/a-better … 1-tedtalk/

Bob Teeter

2 Reply by jesse (edited by jesse 2013-07-20 00:02:49)

  • jesse
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Re: plastic recycling and why is it so hard.

Interesting video.  I was under the impression that plastics can only be recycled by melting a few times before becoming unusable.  Isn't that the main difference between metal and plastic?

For example, new pellets go in the Filastruder and make filament.  Then the filament is chopped back into pellets and put into the Filastruder.  How many cycles would it take before the material would become unusable?

3 Reply by elmoret

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Re: plastic recycling and why is it so hard.

jesse wrote:

How many cycles would it take before the material would become unusable?

Depends on your definition of unusable. Most pro extruders generate the majority of their heat by mechanical shear, which tears the polymer chains apart. The Filastruder gets most of its heat from the heating band, so it actually might be a little easier on the polymer chains.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

4 Reply by bteeter

  • bteeter
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Re: plastic recycling and why is it so hard.

Some additional info about Mike's company and it operation in the US.

http://www.rubbernews.com/article/20130 … ve-rd-site

Bob