Evaluation of Potential Fair Trade Standards for an Ethical 3-D Printing Filament

Feeley, Savanna R.; Wijnen, Bas; Pearce, Joshua M.

doi:10.5539/jsd.v7n5p1

Cited by 40 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Current recyclebot technology allows waste pickers to transport their low density recycled material (e.g., HDPE [53]) to a local recyclebot station to be turned into high-density, high-value 3-D printer filament, thus enabling them to make more money for their labor and to produce low-cost material for distributed manufacturing. Further, the concept of fair trade filament, which includes minimum pricing and regulated work hours, would benefit waste pickers and their communities by enabling upward economic mobility and increased development opportunities [54]. Additional work is needed at looking at a closed loop integrated recycling system for 3-D printing to reach a sustainable state [52].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Efficiency Solar-Powered 3-D Printers for Sustainable Development

et al. 2016

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Abstract:The release of the open source 3-D printer known as the RepRap (a self-Replicating Rapid prototyper) resulted in the potential for distributed manufacturing of products for significantly lower costs than conventional manufacturing. This development, coupled with open source-appropriate technology (OSAT), has enabled the opportunity for 3-D printers to be used for sustainable development. In this context, OSAT provides the opportunity to modify and improve the physical designs of their printers and desired digitally-shared objects. However, these 3-D printers require electricity while more than a billion people still lack electricity. To enable the utilization of RepRaps in off-grid communities, solar photovoltaic (PV)-powered mobile systems have been developed, but recent improvements in novel delta-style 3-D printer designs allows for reduced costs and improved performance. This study builds on these innovations to develop and experimentally validate a mobile solar-PV-powered delta 3-D printer system. It is designed to run the RepRap 3-D printer regardless of solar flux. The electrical system design is tested outdoors for operating conditions: (1) PV charging battery and running 3-D printer; (2) printing under low insolation; (3) battery powering the 3-D printer alone; (4) PV charging the battery only; and (5) battery fully charged with PV-powered 3-D printing. The results show the system performed as required under all conditions providing feasibility for adoption in off-grid rural communities. 3-D printers powered by affordable mobile PV solar systems have a great potential to reduce poverty through employment creation, as well as ensuring a constant supply of scarce products for isolated communities.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Efficiency Solar-Powered 3-D Printers for Sustainable Development

et al. 2016

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“…Again, these costs do not include labor. However, use of recyclebots results in such substantial savings, even when labor costs are taken into account, the technology provides a new method of poverty reduction, as waste pickers can gain access to a much greater income from their labor [111]. In addition, there is now substantial evidence from life cycle analysisbased studies that distributed recycling has a significant environmental benefit over traditional centralized recycling [112,113].…”

Section: Economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of Open Source 3-D Printing on Small Farms

Pearce

2015

Self Cite

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Abstract:There is growing evidence that low-cost open-source 3-D printers can reduce costs by enabling distributed manufacturing of substitutes for both specialty equipment and conventional mass-manufactured products. The rate of 3-D printable designs under open licenses is growing exponentially and there are already hundreds of designs applicable to small-scale organic farming. It has also been hypothesized that this technology could assist sustainable development in rural communities that rely on small-scale organic agriculture. To gauge the present utility of open-source 3-D printers in this organic farm context both in the developed and developing world, this paper reviews the current open-source designs available and evaluates the ability of low-cost 3-D printers to be effective at reducing the economic costs of farming. This study limits the evaluation of open-source 3-D printers to only the most-developed fused filament fabrication of the bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA). PLA is a strong biodegradable and recyclable thermoplastic appropriate for a range of representative products, which are grouped into five categories of prints: hand tools, food processing, animal management, water management and hydroponics. The advantages and shortcomings of applying 3-D printing to each technology are evaluated. The results show a generalizable technical viability and economic benefit to adopting open-source 3-D printing for any of the technologies, although the individual economic impact is highly dependent on needs and frequency of use on a specific farm. Capital costs of a 3-D printer may be saved from on-farm printing of a single advanced analytical instrument in a day or replacing hundreds of inexpensive products over a year. In order for the full potential of open-source 3-D printing to be realized to assist organic farm economic resiliency and self-sufficiency, future work is outlined in five core areas: designs of 3-D printable objects, 3-D printing materials, 3-D printers, software and 3-D printable repositories.

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“…However, this is a substantial amount representing several years of printing only an object a week, which may indicate that recyclebots are appropriate for heavy-use makers, but may be more appropriately deployed at makerspaces, hackerspaces, libraries, design studios, community recycling centers as well as small filament-related businesses. There is also a clear need to improve the design of recyclebots to reduce their costs for developing world applications such as improving waste picker income [93] as well as move to more appropriate and expansive recycling codes that cover 3-D printing polymers [94].…”

Section: Recycling Flexible Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed Manufacturing of Flexible Products: Technical Feasibility and Economic Viability

Woern

Pearce

2017

Technologies

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Abstract:Distributed manufacturing even at the household level is now well established with the combined use of open source designs and self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) 3-D printers. Previous work has shown substantial economic consumer benefits for producing their own polymer products. Now flexible filaments are available at roughly 3-times the cost of more conventional 3-D printing materials. To provide some insight into the potential for flexible filament to be both technically feasible and economically viable for distributed digital manufacturing at the consumer level this study investigates 20 common flexible household products. The 3-D printed products were quantified by print time, electrical energy use and filament consumption by mass to determine the cost to fabricate with a commercial RepRap 3-D printer. Printed parts were inspected and when necessary tested for their targeted application to ensure technical feasibility. Then, the experimentally measured cost to DIY manufacturers was compared to low and high market prices for comparable commercially available products. In addition, the mark-up and potential for long-term price declines was estimated for flexible filaments by converting thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) pellets into filament and reground TPE from a local recycling center into filament using an open source recyclebot. This study found that commercial flexible filament is economically as well as technically feasible for providing a means of distributed home-scale manufacturing of flexible products. The results found a 75% savings when compared to the least expensive commercially equivalent products and 92% when compared to high market priced products. Roughly, 160 flexible objects must be substituted to recover the capital costs to print flexible materials. However, as previous work has shown the Lulzbot Mini 3-D printer used in this study would provide more than a 100% ROI printing one object a week from hard thermoplastics, the upgrade needed to provide flexible filament capabilities can be accomplished with 37 average substitution flexible prints. This, again easily provides a triple digit return on investment printing one product a week. Although these savings, which are created by printing objects at home are substantial, the results also have shown the savings could be further increased to 93% when the use of a pellet extruder and TPE pellets, and 99% if recycled TPE filament made with a recyclebot is used. The capital costs of a recyclebot can be recovered in the manufacturing of about 9 kg of TPE filament, which can be accomplished in less than a week, enabling improved environmental impact as well as a strong financial return for heavy 3-D printer users.

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Evaluation of Potential Fair Trade Standards for an Ethical 3-D Printing Filament

Cited by 40 publications

References 33 publications

High-Efficiency Solar-Powered 3-D Printers for Sustainable Development

High-Efficiency Solar-Powered 3-D Printers for Sustainable Development

Applications of Open Source 3-D Printing on Small Farms

Distributed Manufacturing of Flexible Products: Technical Feasibility and Economic Viability

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