For the past two years, Will Amos has led a student and faculty team at the University of California, Irvine in building an innovative recycling system that turns plastic waste into stock material for 3D printing projects. The system includes four components: a grinder that breaks plastic waste into small pieces, an extruder that melts the broken plastic into filament, a spooler that prepares the lament for use in the printer and of course the printer. The only byproduct of the cradle-to-cradle system, which tackles the issues of overconsumption and plastic pollution, is water vapor.
