Executive Summary
Advancements in manufacturing technologies have allowed 3D printers to literally become household items, making them relatively inexpensive rapid prototyping devices for engineering, research, and teaching purposes. This has made them incredibly common on UW’s campus, as they can be found in many classrooms, engineering spaces, and laboratories across disciplines. This invaluable resource has come with a significant environmental drawback as a large amount of the material (known as filament) used to create 3D prints is wasted in the process of creating a final print. Given the ubiquity of 3D printers on campus and the high amount of waste generated, this project seeks to create a small space where any office, classroom, or lab on campus can bring their excess/waste filament to be ground down, melted, and respooled into usable filament for future projects. Recycling the material on campus would reduce the amount of material that ended up in landfills and would also reduce the amount of new product that needed to be ordered.