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3D Printing May Help Reduce Poverty and Plastic Waste
Startups across the globe are turning plastic waste into filament for 3D printers in an effort to reduce poverty and plastic waste.
1 Min Read
Startups across the globe are turning plastic waste into filament for 3D printers in an effort to reduce poverty and plastic waste.
For example, India-based Protoprint has teamed with SWaCH, a cooperative ran by waste pickers and collectors, to create a low-cost plastic filament production facility to transform plastic waste into 3D printing filament to be sold to Indian or international 3D printing companies.
The Guardian has more:
When Sidhant Pai visited a local rubbish dump in his home city of Pune, India, he was struck by the size and intensity of the operation. Large black crows swooping overhead, roaming pigs, overwhelming odours and groups of waste pickers collecting plastic bottles in large white sacks.
There are an estimated 15 million people globally who currently make their living from waste picking and many earn less than a dollar a day. A key problem, says environmental engineer Pai, is that workers only capture a tiny proportion of the value of the waste they collect, separate and transport to scrap dealers.
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