Jump to content

Can empty spools be recycled?


jbearpark

Recommended Posts

Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

I've started stacking up quite a few empty spools now and am looking to get rid of them but can't see anything on them about recycling, or on the boxes for that matter. If anyone could advise me that would be great. 

 

If they can't be, then I ask ultimaker to really consider this as its a lot of plastic waste, its a real shame if I have to throwaway every single one.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

    I do agree with you. 

    Some spools do have markin on them about what plastic they are... Old blak Ultimaker spools are made in PS and transparent colorfabb spools are made in PC. But on the new UM spools I can't find any marking of wich material they are made of...

    And I guess you are refering to these new spools...

     

    One way to recycle them is to use them as a spool organizer. I use this design (Not sure if it is compatible with the new Ultimaker spools):

    https://www.youmagine.com/designs/spool-organizer-4-23

    But once you've done some of them you don't need more...

     

    So I am more and more looking to get to a masterspool system:

    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2769823

    But for this there are pretty few filaments avaiable, and UM material with the NFC tag would be a little bit more complicated tu use on this. (I use old UMO so NFC is not a subject for my use)

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    5 hours ago, Curven said:

    So I am more and more looking to get to a masterspool system:

    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2769823

    But for this there are pretty few filaments avaiable, and UM material with the NFC tag would be a little bit more complicated tu use on this. (I use old UMO so NFC is not a subject for my use)

     

     

    I would also really like to see a master spool system.

    I know of some off-brand systems for 1.75mm but none for 2.85mm 😕


    I don't think the NFC chip will be a problem. the NFC is just the little cardboard ring at the back it should bee pretty easy to place your self on a master spool system. 

     

    I know there might be som issues with the windings. but again a fragile frame just to keep it in place until the master spool is installed should also be posable to make. it would still keep the wast down to a minimum.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

    Add North has a program were you can return empty spools and scrapped material.

    They even pay the shipping cost.

    You get a discount based on how much you return.

     

    They only accept PLA and their own brand as return but it's a good thing.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    15 hours ago, AndersK said:

    Add North has a program were you can return empty spools and scrapped material.

    They even pay the shipping cost.

    You get a discount based on how much you return.

     

    They only accept PLA and their own brand as return but it's a good thing.

     

    I have just been looking a bit on the Add North, I like the idea of reuse filament and spools. and would like to try it out.

    But I can't fine anywhere to buy the recycled Pla only Abs, or is that just me!

     

    I'll like to try some of there standard Pla but to me it looks like its all bio-degradeable and im not so keen on that. 
    Any one have some experience with there product line?

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

    I pretty much only print with material from them.

    The PLA I use is for visualisation models only but have made a bunch of prints from their PETG that is used in industrial environment mainly for material handling and is holding up great so far.

     

    I dont think they have started selling recycled PLA yet, the ABS popped up on their site this summer.

     

    All PLA is bio degradable at some extent as most of it is based on corn. Dont know if they have released PLA based on cellulose from our forrest industry yet, but thy are working on it.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

    Hej AndersK

     

    Thanks for the feedback I'll try and order some spools🙂

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

    Something that just occured to me: if you are going to recycle spools by sending them back, it might cause way more harm than it solves.

     

    You need to pack them into cardboard boxes, and stuff the box with thick shock-absorbing paper or cardboard. This requires cutting down trees to make cardboard. And it requires a lot of transport: if you are going to have DHL drive 20km to collect your packages, that comes with an environmental cost too.

     

    The cleanest option is to re-use them at home, or for your neighbours. Apart from that, I think throwing them in the regular waste collection system (provided that you have one in your area), might be the most environmentally friendly. On the condition that it is burned cleanly, and its heat is re-used to produce electricity or warming for other purposes, and with good exhaust filters.

     

    Apart from that: CO2 is not a poison gas, on the contrary: it is the most important life-gas on earth: it is food for plants, and it is the base of all life. No CO2 means no life. Today there is not enough CO2 in the atmosphere to make plants grow well: they need at least 3x more CO2, but preferably 10x more (that would still be only between 0.1 and 0.4%). This has been tested in scientific experiments. Today concentration is 0.03% and plants are in continuous "CO2-hunger": below 0.02% they all die. So, don't feel bad for producing CO2 and making plants grow. This is basic scientific knowledge, which I got in highschool (around age 15...18y). But of course the climate-kiddies today don't go to school, and they are too lazy (and too arrogant) to study and to inform themself. And the press is just a propaganda-channel of its owners, not a thruth-channel, so you won't read this in there. Also see my text, via the link a few posts above this one, for more info.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

     

    12 hours ago, geert_2 said:

    Apart from that: CO2 is not a poison gas, on the contrary: it is the most important life-gas on earth: it is food for plants, and it is the base of all life. No CO2 means no life. Today there is not enough CO2 in the atmosphere to make plants grow well: they need at least 3x more CO2, but preferably 10x more (that would still be only between 0.1 and 0.4%). This has been tested in scientific experiments. Today concentration is 0.03% and plants are in continuous "CO2-hunger": below 0.02% they all die. So, don't feel bad for producing CO2 and making plants grow. This is basic scientific knowledge, which I got in highschool (around age 15...18y). But of course the climate-kiddies today don't go to school, and they are too lazy (and too arrogant) to study and to inform themself. And the press is just a propaganda-channel of its owners, not a thruth-channel, so you won't read this in there. Also see my text, via the link a few posts above this one, for more info.

     

    I would really like to know where you find that scientific experiment. I agree that the press isn't the most trustworthy source of knowledge.

     

    And I will not disagree that plants need CO2 to grow. But claim that we can solve all our problems by emitting more CO2 I find hard to agree on.

    • Like 4
    Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    Quote

    Something that just occured to me: if you are going to recycle spools by sending them back, it might cause way more harm than it solves.

     

    You need to pack them into cardboard boxes, and stuff the box with thick shock-absorbing paper or cardboard. This requires cutting down trees to make cardboard. And it requires a lot of transport: if you are going to have DHL drive 20km to collect your packages, that comes with an environmental cost too.

     

    The cleanest option is to re-use them at home, or for your neighbours. Apart from that, I think throwing them in the regular waste collection system (provided that you have one in your area), might be the most environmentally friendly. On the condition that it is burned cleanly, and its heat is re-used to produce electricity or warming for other purposes, and with good exhaust filters.

    I'm more curious as to whether they can be put into regular plastic recycling bins, not sending them back to ultimaker as that definitely would not be worthwhile at a small scale. The printer is a company one and my company has no real way to repurpose them. 

    If you are talking about incineration then you are completely wrong. Plastics do not burn cleanly and release toxic fumes, even with filtering it still produces loading of pollution. 

    Quote

    Apart from that: CO2 is not a poison gas, on the contrary: it is the most important life-gas on earth: it is food for plants, and it is the base of all life. No CO2 means no life. Today there is not enough CO2 in the atmosphere to make plants grow well: they need at least 3x more CO2, but preferably 10x more (that would still be only between 0.1 and 0.4%). This has been tested in scientific experiments. Today concentration is 0.03% and plants are in continuous "CO2-hunger": below 0.02% they all die. So, don't feel bad for producing CO2 and making plants grow. This is basic scientific knowledge, which I got in highschool (around age 15...18y). But of course the climate-kiddies today don't go to school, and they are too lazy (and too arrogant) to study and to inform themself. And the press is just a propaganda-channel of its owners, not a thruth-channel, so you won't read this in there. Also see my text, via the link a few posts above this one, for more info.

    I'd like to know your source on this because I have never seen anything pointing to 'plants don't have enough CO2.' CO2 contributes to the greenhouse, trapping radiation in the atmosphere. It also has an adverse affect on humans and animals, displacing oxygen in the air, which is particularly evident in large cities. 

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    5 minutes ago, jbearpark said:

    I'm more curious as to whether they can be put into regular plastic recycling bins

     

    There's no generally answer to this question. Regulations can be very different in every location of the world.
    I guess you have to ask your local waste management company. Of course one still needs to know the exact material first...

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

    I put my spools together with the yoghurt cups and water bottles in the plastic waste container. 

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    1 hour ago, tinkergnome said:

     

    There's no generally answer to this question. Regulations can be very different in every location of the world.
    I guess you have to ask your local waste management company. Of course one still needs to know the exact material first...

     

    A lot of places/countries use the seven numbers categorisation. even though it's not official a standard yet. 

     

     

    Plastic-Recycling-chart-1.thumb.jpg.ec945640d2fe436b091ab8c78cc48b1c.jpg

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    27 minutes ago, NBull said:

     

    A lot of places/countries use the seven numbers categorisation. even though it's not official a standard yet. 

     

     

    Plastic-Recycling-chart-1.thumb.jpg.ec945640d2fe436b091ab8c78cc48b1c.jpg

     

     

    But for that we should get the information of wich material actual UM spools are made of. And this marking is missing on the "newer" spools (thoose with NFC tag).

    I hope someone will give us response soon...

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

    Well, I dont think the polar bears would agree theres not enough CO2 around...

     

    Trees are a re-newable resource, oil isnt so burning plastics doesnt add value to the equation in my mindset.

     

    In my case the empty spools goes back in the same big cardbox they came in, about 10 each batch, and the delivery truck will not travel much longer than the one to the waste management station.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    3 hours ago, jbearpark said:

    I'm more curious as to whether they can be put into regular plastic recycling bins, not sending them back to ultimaker as that definitely would not be worthwhile at a small scale. The printer is a company one and my company has no real way to repurpose them. 

    If you are talking about incineration then you are completely wrong. Plastics do not burn cleanly and release toxic fumes, even with filtering it still produces loading of pollution. 

    ...

    I'd like to know your source on this because I have never seen anything pointing to 'plants don't have enough CO2.' CO2 contributes to the greenhouse, trapping radiation in the atmosphere. It also has an adverse affect on humans and animals, displacing oxygen in the air, which is particularly evident in large cities. 

     

    Concerning plastics burning: some burn very dirty indeed, especially ABS and PVC. But some burn very cleanly, like PE, PP and PLA, releasing almost nothing but CO2 and H2O into the atmosphere. Such exhausts can easily be filtered with equipment similar to the filters and catalysers in cars.

     

    Concerning the effect of CO2 on plant life: you will find lots of sources if you Google for:

    - plant growth versus co2 level

    - real co2 science

     

    CO2 is the bubbles in sparkling water, cola and beer. It is the bubbles in bread. It improves the working of our stomach. And it is the main food for plants. It is a life gas. No poison at all.

     

    All greenhouses inject huge amounts of CO2 into their glass greenhouses, to increase their crop growth. Where I live in Belgium, we have a lot of them, and they all have *huge* CO2-tanks next to their green houses. This costs them huge amounts of money. They wouldn't do it if it had no benefit. The most economical balance for them here in Europe is a CO2-amount of 0.1% to 0.15% in the air, thus ca. 3x more than in open air. Below that, crop growth isn't enough, above that is becomes too costly for a small added benefits in growth.


    In formula: CO2 + H2O + lots of sunlight as energy ---> C-H-O chains + O2

    In which the C-H-O chains are juices (sugar), green leaf, and wood, with C6H12O6 being one of the simplest forms of sugar.

     

    When injecting more CO2, the limiting factor here in Europe becomes lack of sunlight to produce the energy required to convert the CO2 and water into wood. Wood is essentially "stored sunlight energy". That is why it gives so much heat when burning it.

     

    In other words: plants convert sunlight, CO2 and water into wood. Wood is stored sun-energy. This is why it is much cooler in a forest than on bare rock in summer: the plants have already "eaten up" all sunlight energy before it reaches the earth. So it can no longer heat the climate. It is converted into wood.

     

    More CO2 = more green and more wood = lower temperature in summer. So, CO2 has a cooling effect on the atmosphere, instead of warming effect. You can easily see and feel this for yourself in every forest. This is basic science: look at reality and describe what you see. You have to take the whole effect into account, with all feedback mechanisms and stabilising mechanisms.

     

    Out of experiments, people found that the rule of thumb is: 10x more CO2 (which is still only 0.3%, thus almost nothing), gives 6x to 7x more green, without you having to do anything. All deserts would become green automatically and be covered in forest again. There is enough moisture in the air, but not enough CO2. If there would be more CO2, plants wouldn't need to open their pores so much, and they wouldn't lose so much water vapour. Then the current amount of moisture in the air is enough, even in the deserts of Africa. This has been tested.

     

    We, humans and animals, do the opposite of plants: we eat green plants, we breath in O2, and we decompose them into CO2 and H2O, releasing the stored sun-energy to keep our body warm and to move. In formula:

    C-H-O-chains (food) + O2 ---> CO2 + H2O + energy

     

    Yes, if you put CO2 in a laboratory tube, and you put that tube in the sun, it warms up more than an empty tube. But that is no science: it does not take all the feedback mechanisms into account; it throws out 99% of effects.

     

    When researching this subject, I also found that drug producers use CO2-enrichtment to grow their plants. They too recommend a 0.1% to 0.15% of CO2 (compared to the current 0.03% ... 0.04% in the open air). They wouldn't do it if it wouldn't work. So, even drug producers are more aware of science than politicians; very remarcable.

     

    On Youtube you also find videos of plant growth by various CO2 levels: below 0.02% plants don't grow well: they stay sick. At current levels, they grow poorly. At CO2-enriched levels they grow much faster, stronger, and healthier.

     

    There do exist a couple of good documentaries (try different search engines, because Google is more and more censoring this sort of content):

    - The greening of planet earth

    - The greening of planet earth (continued)

    - The great global warming swindle

    and tens of others

     

    Also search for:

    - real co2 science

    - co2 swindle

    - co2 warming hoax

    and similar

     

    About coal, brown coal ("bruinkool" in Dutch), and similar decomposed organic stuff (in Dutch: turf, veen). These materials were plants too, long ago. But all that carbon got entrapped into the soil, so it can no longer be part of the life cycle. Once the whole earth was covered in green forest. But these leafs felt down and got buried in the ground, entrapping all that valuable carbon. So the earth became a desert to a large degree.


    Probably this is also true for some of the oil and gas in the earth: this too seems to have come (in part) from decomposed organic life forms (including sea life organisms). But maybe not all: maybe some oil and gas were always there, like metals and other chemicals were always there.

     

    So we should dig up all this trapped carbon, coal, oil and gas, and we should burn it in a clean way, with filters and catalysators, to release CO2. So the carbon can be part of the life-cycle again, and the whole earth can become green again. If CO2-levels rise by 10x, and plants grow quicker by 6x...7x, then all people would have enough food automatically. And all animals would have a huge habitat.

     

    So, to save the plants and forests, and to save life on earth, we should dig up as much oil, gas and coal as possible, and burn that in a clean way.

     

    So we should go driving old-style cars with fuel guzzling V8-engines of 400HP again, but now with filters and catalysators. This is no joke, it is solid science.  :-)

     

    And by the way, even if earth's temperature would rise 2°C, sea levels wouldn't rise, no: they would drop instead. Currently the ocean temperature is +2°C (except the top 200m). But water has its highest density and lowest volume at +4°C. So, if temperature increases with 2°C, ocean levels would drop because the water shrinks. Combine that with all deserts getting green again, which will store huge amounts of water on land, and sea levels will even drop further. Ice on the North-pole is floating ice on water: if that melts, it has no effect at all on sea levels. And it is only 2m thick anyway currently in summer: you can already sail to the North-pole by ship since 20 years. Search on Youtube for: ice breaker north pole cruise. The ice on land on the South-pole won't melt: it is way too cold there: even if temp rises with 20°C, it is still minus 40°C. Same for Greenland, in a lesser degree.

     

    And polar bears are doing fine: their population is increasing very well. Polar bears need thin ice and water, not thick ice, to live: they need to fish in the water. If the North-pole would get covered in thick solid ice, they would have no food and die.

     

    I am very much concerned about the earth, plants, forests, and life. But I am also very much concerned about scientific facts and thruth.

     

    I am aware that this is a bit off-topic for 3D-printing, but we are technicians and developers. We are among the very few people who are capable of looking at reality. Otherwise we would not be able to develop working equipment. And we have some knowledge of science and technology. Most other people don't. Politicians, fanatics, and press-people are even not allowed to look at the facts, or they are thrown out of their group and lose their job. So we should stick to scientific facts, and we should not go along in current CO2-hysteria, lies, and child-crusades.

     

    I would really encourage you to have a closer look at this subject. It will open a new world.

     

    It is a much longer reply than I had planned, but fortunately I can type quite fast.  :-)

     

    • Like 1
    Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?

    Whether climate change is natural or man made. I will not comment on, as it depends largely on what scientist you ask.

     

    Regarding recycling, I personally believe that we as human beings should strive to recycle the materials we can. not necessarily because of the climate, but because I am against, the "use and throw away" culture.

     

    3 hours ago, geert_2 said:

    CO2 is the bubbles in sparkling water, cola and beer. It is the bubbles in bread. It improves the working of our stomach. And it is the main food for plants. It is a life gas. No poison at all.

     

    Saying that CO2 is a "life gas. No poison at all" is wrong.

    (CO2) is natural and harmless in small quantities. But if you inhale too much, it "will" kill you. 

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted (edited) · Can empty spools be recycled?
    54 minutes ago, NBull said:

    ...

    Saying that CO2 is a "life gas. No poison at all" is wrong.

    (CO2) is natural and harmless in small quantities. But if you inhale too much, it "will" kill you. 

     

    Yes, I can see what you mean. It is a matter of quantities indeed. I'll mention that aspect in further texts.

     

    Maybe I should have said: "CO2 is a life gass, and no poison at all in normal and slightly elevated quantities". About 0.3% (=10x more than the normal 0.03%) is still almost nothing. In poorly ventilated classrooms the concentration can be much higher than 0.3%, and we are all still alive.

     

    But in too high quantities it can kill indeed, just like almost anything. Drink 10 liter of water in an hour, and you are dead due to water-poisoning. But water is an essential life-liquid in normal quantities. Breath-in 100% of N2 gas (nitrogen) and you fall dead immediately, in a few seconds, because in the absense of oxygen the nitrogen binds with the hemoglobin irreversibly. I had collegues die in this way 30 years ago. Even though there is 78% of N2 in the air. Same with other essential stuff.

     

    Further, in the absense of reliable source-info, or in case of conflicting info, as on this subject, I always try to go back to basic and well-proven scientific laws of chemistry, physics, biology, biochemistry, electricity, etc. I try to do the math myself. And I try to look directly at nature as much as possible. Not via-via-via filtered info in the press which may have an unknown agenda. Also, directly looking at applied technologies and machinery is a good way to see if the basic concepts on which they are based do work or not. The fact that a machine works, proves that it is based on at least partially correct principles. This is what I tried to show in the above text.

     

    Edited by geert_2
  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    On 11/8/2019 at 10:09 AM, NBull said:

     

    But I can't fine anywhere to buy the recycled Pla only Abs, or is that just me!

     

    They visited me last week so I asked about the recycled PLA and they said its coming.

    They just havent reached the critical mass in returns yet needed to produce wire in necessary quantities.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Can empty spools be recycled?
    1 hour ago, AndersK said:

    They visited me last week so I asked about the recycled PLA and they said its coming.

    They just havent reached the critical mass in returns yet needed to produce wire in necessary quantities.

     

    Okay good to know, thanks for the update. 🙂

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    • Our picks

      • Introducing Universal Cura Projects in the UltiMaker Cura 5.7 beta
        Strap in for the first Cura release of 2024! This 5.7 beta release brings new material profiles as well as cloud printing for Method series printers, and introduces a powerful new way of sharing print settings using printer-agnostic project files! Also, if you want to download the cute dinosaur card holder featured below, it was specially designed for this release and can be found on Thingiverse! 
          • Like
        • 10 replies
      • S-Line Firmware 8.3.0 was released Nov. 20th on the "Latest" firmware branch.
        (Sorry, was out of office when this released)

        This update is for...
        All UltiMaker S series  
        New features
         
        Temperature status. During print preparation, the temperatures of the print cores and build plate will be shown on the display. This gives a better indication of the progress and remaining wait time. Save log files in paused state. It is now possible to save the printer's log files to USB if the currently active print job is paused. Previously, the Dump logs to USB option was only enabled if the printer was in idle state. Confirm print removal via Digital Factory. If the printer is connected to the Digital Factory, it is now possible to confirm the removal of a previous print job via the Digital Factory interface. This is useful in situations where the build plate is clear, but the operator forgot to select Confirm removal on the printer’s display. Visit this page for more information about this feature.
          • Like
        • 0 replies
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...