I still have mixed emotions about 3D printing. I do love the idea of being able to print a part when I need it for something. But I do hate myself at the same time for creating more plastic junk. PLA is not really getting recycled, when it fails someone throws it in the trash and it goes to a landfill. Maybe some really diehard enthusiasts are ensuring all their failed prints and broken parts get properly chemically recycled, but I bet most don’t bother and just bin it.

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chakintosh 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The way I see it is that a 50g piece of 3D printed PLA could be used to fix a 5kg item that would have otherwise gone to the landfill. I for example have a broken hook for the door tray in my fridge, it's a tiny piece but it being broken rendered the entire 1kg tray useless, it's sitting on top of the fridge waiting for me to buy a 3D printer and fix it.

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malfist 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In the US almost all PLA comes from corn, outside the US I think it mostly comes from sugarcane.

It can be composted in industrial composters, but even if you dont do that it's still pretty green

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lm28469 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

And that's the best case scenario, I think most people print useless junk to begin with, just look at the top downloads on printables.com, less than 30% are functional prints, most of them are short lived junk, and a lot are AI generated.

	▲	AngryData 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		While they certainly correlate, downloads don't match print rates. Unless you got a ton of printers you are mostly doing one print at a time and each requires setup and cleanup, or possibly multiple attempts if there are difficult to print features. It can be multiple hours between prints because good prints take time. But you can spend 30 minutes browsing random peoples designs online and say "cool" and press download on 20 different designs that you only print 1 or 2 of ultimately. Also some designs look cool but the second you load your model up in a slicer you can see it is too finnicky or too long or expensive to print to be worth the effort.
	▲	knowitnone3 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		which is why I tell the shop techs to not print the benchy boat and print something useful instead.

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ofrzeta 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I feel the same and that has kept me from buying a printer. That is not to say that I never will but for the time being if I really need a particular part I can always use a printing service.

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proee 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Seems there is a market for a truly biodegradable print material, if even for doing a prototype before committing to a full plastic print. Or a real recyclable method to take old prints and reuse the material again.

	▲	vablings 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The issue with biodegradable is that it is in direct contrast to something that is durable and long lasting.

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knowitnone3 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

if you printed what you NEED, how is that junk?

Let's see how much you really care: https://all3dp.com/2/best-diy-filament-extruder-kit-maker/

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unsharted 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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