3D Printers: Friend or Foe for the Environment?

With so many of us being excited about 3D printers, about what they can do now and what they’re going to do in the future, there is one question that is really isn’t looked into: What is the environmental impact of manufacturing and using 3D printers? While their use in the design industry and the medical space can make a positive life-changing differences, is the use of a 3D printer for personal hobbies and amusement justifiable?

The question is a compelling one: If you can buy an object from the market, mass produced in way that creates a small carbon footprint per unit, should you accord yourself the luxury of creating such an object at home? Should you do it for the sheer joy of expressing your creativity? Lets discuss the pros and cons of 3D printing; the possible positive and negative impacts of 3d printing on the environment.

How 3D Printers Can Positively Impact the Environment

For one, they help cut down on transport and packing materials. Raw materials are delivered to a manufacturing facility. The process typically flows like this: the finished goods are packaged, transported to dealer and then to a retail outlet. You buy an item from a shop and take it home or you order it online and it reaches from whichever distant location that housed it. These are significant environmental costs vis-a-vis creating the precise object you need as per your own precise specifications without having to transport it over long distances.

There is no left over inventory. So you bought a décor item that you liked from a store. But what about a hundred similar items that did not get sold? Unsold inventories present serious challenges to manufacturers and retailers. 3d printing is the opposite of mass production and has obvious benefits.

The unique ability to ‘print’ spare parts is a truly useful capability that 3D printing places in our hands. We tend to replace entire appliances instead of worn out or broken components because of the difficult and cost involved in procuring and replacing spares parts. The ability to ‘print’ spare parts can actually help lengthen the life of at least some appliances or will do so in the near future.

Recycling a 3D printed product is theoretically easier since these are typically simple, single material objects. Most typically resins are used to create ABS filament which are fairly easy to recycle. In fact it is even possible to print using biodegradable materials; to make a conscious choice to create an object from earth friendly materials.

Possible Environmental Costs of 3D Printing

So what would you say to people who say something like, “the world doesn’t need more c**p”. If you can buy a cheaply produced coffee mug from a dollar store, what real need is there to create a one of a kind item for yourself at the cost of the time, energy and resources that would typically be consumed? The apprehension is that if 3D printing gets easier, more people will create more stuff they don’t really need, and we are all literally stuck with more waste.

Then there are those who agitate against the view that 3D printing is green because it cuts down on transport. They argue that transport is actually a very small component of the environmental cost of production. In fact critics of 3D printing also argue that the process actually creates more waste, because about 40% of material remains unused.

Energy usage, more particularly electricity consumption is the major component of the environmental impacts of 3D printing. Simply put, melting plastic and keeping it melted uses up a lot of electricity.

We can possibly infer from the foregoing, that 3D printing, a concept that is still in its infancy will evolve and improve and become more cost effective in times to come. Inventors and designers will also find ways to reduce the environmental impacts of these processes. The limitations of 3D printing that exist today, may not persist in the not so distant future.

Do you think 3D printing opens up a vast array of new possibilities or are you of the contrary view that the earth doesn’t need more rubbish? We’d love to hear what our readers think. Do leave us a comment below this post or get in touch via our Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages.

Further reading at: Factoexisit.com, Sustainabilityworkshop.com and Greenbiz.com