Sculpteo – one of the largest companies in Europe providing 3D printing services, owned by BASF, has introduced RE-cycleo – a recycling program for parts printed from PA12 and PA11 polyamides. The recycled material will be used in the plastics industry and will allow for the reuse of old parts that can be recycled multiple times. Thanks to this, Sculpteo becomes one of the first 3D printing services to offer recycling services – not only for some customers, but also for production waste. Sculpteo is also expanding its range of eco-friendly materials, such as PA11 biosurface nylon, in an attempt to make 3D printing even more sustainable.
To recycle their parts, customers can send them to Sculpteo with authorization for destruction. Upon receipt of the parts, they are sorted into Nylon PA11 or Nylon PA12. Then the parts are placed in special containers that can hold hundreds of kilograms of parts and crushed into pieces. In order to maintain industrial secrets and customer confidentiality, Sculpteo guarantees that milling only takes place on site, inside their factory. The shredded material is then sent to Arkema, which will recycle it through its Virtucycle program. The shredded material is analyzed for possible contamination.
During the compounding stage, the material is remelted, cooled and processed into granules that will be used in other industrial applications. With injection molding, the granules will be melted and injected into the mold to create new products. The entire process uses 100% renewable energy.
Source: www.sculpteo.com