Reflow

Assembly Line

Circular Economy 3D Printing: Opportunities to Improve Sustainability in AM

📅 Date:

✍️ Author: Hayley Everett

🔖 Topics: additive manufacturing, 3D printing, sustainability

🏭 Vertical: Machinery, Automotive

🏢 Organizations: Ford, Renault, Reflow, Recreus, HP, Materiom


Within the 3D printing sector alone, there are various initiatives currently underway to develop closed-loop manufacturing processes that reuse and repurpose waste materials. Within the automotive sector, Groupe Renault is creating a facility entirely dedicated to sustainable automotive production through recycling and retrofitting vehicles using 3D printing, while Ford and HP have teamed up to recycle 3D printing waste into end-use automotive parts.

One notable project that is addressing circular economy 3D printing is BARBARA (Biopolymers with Advanced functionalities foR Building and Automotive parts processed through Additive Manufacturing), a Horizon 2020 project that brought together 11 partners from across Europe to produce bio-based materials from food waste suitable for 3D printing prototypes in the automotive and construction sectors.

Read more at 3D Printing Industry