From two thousand bottles - a bench

In the near future, Belarus may receive a 3D printer, which will print furniture from plastic bottles, belta.by reports. smARTech team from Minsk has created a project of production complex-now developers are looking for an investor. Recently, activists managed to win the Grand Pri and the audience award for a total of Br6 thousand at the competition of social projects Social Weekend. Engineers want not only to solve the environmental problem of recycling plastic waste, but also to change people's views on the need for garbage sorting and rational consumption. 

To start production, the smARTech team will need a room of 150-200 square meters for the installation of the production complex. At the initial stage, it will include a shredder for grinding plastic, an extruder for preparing crushed raw materials into a material suitable for 3D printing and, in fact, the 3D printer itself with a large printing area (dimensions 1 m x 2.5 m x 1.5 m). For our country, this will be a completely new phenomenon, because in Belarus 3D printing is still poorly developed, mainly working with 3D printers of small size, which can print a maximum of a toy.

While smARTech decided to stop on the benches. They developed sketches and design, made the layout, it weighs 230 g - for its production it took 230 g of bottles. For the manufacture of a full bench weighing from 23 to 50 kg will need from 1 thousand to 2 thousand bottles. Plastic waste is on sale. Their cost ranges from Br0, 20 to Br2 per 1 kg. It turns out that the cost of such a bench-about Br100. If we talk about time cost, the printing of one product should take 6-8 hours.