A new era of 3D printing “microfactories” is helping to turn waste plastics into “highly competitive” products fit for use in the construction industry, according to Veena Sahajwalla, professor and founding director of UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre.
Speaking to CNBC’s Mandy Drury at Schneider Electric’s Sydney Innovation Summit on Monday in Australia, Sahajwalla said manufacturers had to direct their thinking around sustainability toward profitability.
“It’s not about saying, well I’m making it because its green. Actually, that should be the last thing. The first thing has to be profitability, does it work? Is it showing the right performance?” she said.
That thinking has pushed SMaRT to build plastic filaments made from 100% waste plastics, sourced from “all kinds of old printers.”
They are built in hyper-localized, heavily automated “microfactories” to produce personalized products.
“If this [waste-made plastic] can now be fed into a 3D printer, can you actually print a whole range of products?” she said.
One such product already made are “clamps” — or blocks — used in building and construction projects.
“Imagine all the building and construction projects where you need plants and imagine if you had to wait a long time to source these parts and components,” said Sahajwalla.
