OWA’s Recycled PS filament
If you’re a regular reader of this magazine, the likelihood is you don’t need to be told that the benefits of 3D printing are bountiful. Still, as great as the technology can be, the behaviour of prototype, iterate, prototype again, does pose an environmental issue for waste plastic. A handful of startups and university research groups have attempted to tackle the problem, typically by way of grinding up print waste, melting and turning it back into reusable filament. But a 90-year old company from Brittany, France is taking a different approach, using waste from the standard 2D printing industry and repurposing cartridge plastic into a range of recycled filament for FDM printing.
Established chemical firm, Armor, has been producing laser and inkjet cartridges since the early 1990s. Two years ago, the team was busy working on a project looking at recycling waste from its 2D printing activity into usable material and observed a gap in the growing 3D filament market. It proved a success and saw the launch of a dedicated 3D printing subsidiary in 2016, specialising in producing technical materials for 3D printing, under the name of OWA 3D.
Bracelet printed in OWA TPU
"Never before have people been given the ability to produce themselves with a machine, this is what 3D printing is going to change in our world,” Pierre-Antoine Pluvinage, Business Development Director, Armor 3D Printing, told TCT. “I think people are more and more aware of what material they are using, where it comes from and where it goes after. It makes sense to make sure that we don’t produce waste, that we don’t just throw away materials. Companies have to do it more and more, it’s becoming mandatory and they’re really looking for a solution like this to differentiate themselves.”
OWA adopts a circular economy method to reduce waste print supplies from both 2D and 3D printing output and has created the world’s first QUALICERT certified laser cartridge recycling line. It’s not just a new product, it’s an entire philosophy, and the company is now looking to work with other industrial companies and manufacturers to provide a solution for their own plastic waste and develop specific materials.
“We want to build partnerships with these companies because we need to setup a process to collect the waste, make sure it’s correctly separated with other waste and develop a proper process to make materials for 3D printing,” Pierre-Antoine continued. “This process is not just about picking waste and trying to do something with it, it’s really a matter of companies that have the same aim and want to really push recycling to an extreme.”
OWA currently offers several filament types; a 100% recycled range including a world-first recycled polystyrene (PS) filament, a technical range of PLA aimed at providing high-impact functionality, and TPU for elastomeric properties, sourced from plastic used in ski boots. Pierre-Antoine says it’s responding to a growing demand from industrial and professional users for better, high-quality materials, and on a recent visit to a 3D printing event in Lyon, it was clear the OWA brand has already infiltrated the desktop space with filament spools spotted everywhere alongside various machines.
“We are working with some printer manufacturers that are interested in testing our that they are suited to their printers. Lots of printer manufacturers have users that are really sensitive on the recycling aspects,” Pierre-Antoine explained. “With 3D printing you have the material that becomes the product which is really amazing and users are conscious that they can’t just use any material, they have to think about the end-of-life waste.”
With both filament lines already available in France, Belgium, UK, Canada and Japan, the company is keeping a close eye on the needs of other standard 3D technologies, resin and powder, which it hopes to address in the future, and fi nding partners that share this vision to enable them to take it to a truly global scale.
“[3D printing] is a young industry, fast growing and I think users are pre-occupied by other aspects such as new machines, new materials,” Pierre-Antoine concludes. “But I think that the 3D printing industry is more advanced than other industries, such as 2D printing, regarding waste. The positive aspect is that I think people are conscious about the need to deal with waste and the materials that they are using.”
