The Ethical Filament Foundation believes that there is an opportunity to create an environmentally friendly and ethically produced filament alternative to meet the needs of the rapidly growing 3D Printing market. We also believe that by doing this we could potentially open up a new market for value added products that can be produced by waste picker groups in low income countries.
Aims[edit | edit source]
The Ethical Filament Foundation aims to:
- Brand an ethical filament production standard and a certification process that guarantees the quality and ethical value of any certified filament to a third party consumer. Certification is process independent and only focuses on the quality of the final product and the social benefit generated in the process.
- Market the Ethical Filament Standard and certification process.
- Promote brand an ethical filament production standard and a certification process that guarantees the quality and ethical value of any certified filament to a third party consumer. Certification is process independent and only focuses on the quality of the final product and the social benefit generated in the process.
- Advertise and market the Ethical Filament Standard and certification process.
- Promote the concept of recycling to produce Ethical 3D Printing Filament that is sold to improve the livelihoods of waste pickers and their communities worldwide.
- Sponsor research and development to improve the process for waste recycling at the grass root level for use in 3D printing. All such research will be released to the Public Domain for use on an unrestricted basis by social benefit organizations.
- Create an information repository to make public domain information regarding current research easily available to individuals or organizations. the concept of recycling to produce Ethical 3D Printing Filament that is sold to improve the livelihoods of waste pickers and their communities worldwide.
- Sponsor research and development to improve the process for waste recycling at the grass root level for use in 3D printing. All such research will be released to the Public Domain for use on an unrestricted basis by social benefit organizations.
- Create an information repository to make public domain information regarding current research easily available to individuals or organizations
Proposed Standards[edit | edit source]
Partners[edit | edit source]
- Tech for Trade
- Dreambox
- Michigan Tech's Open Sustainability Technology Lab
In the News[edit | edit source]
See also[edit | edit source]
- Recyclebot
- RepRapable Recyclebot: Open source 3-D printable extruder for converting plastic to 3-D printing filament
- Tightening the loop on the circular economy: Coupled distributed recycling and manufacturing with recyclebot and RepRap 3-D printing
- Energy Payback Time of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Waste Plastic Recyclebot System
- Evaluation of Potential Fair Trade Standards for an Ethical 3-D Printing Filament
- Wood Furniture Waste-Based Recycled 3-D Printing Filament
- Open source 3-D printing of OSAT
- Mechanical testing of polymer components made with the RepRap 3-D printer
- Development and feasibility of applications for the RepRap 3-D printer
- Life cycle analysis of distributed polymer recycling
- Solar powered distributed customized manufacturing
- Distributed recycling of post-consumer plastic waste in rural areas
- Fused Particle Fabrication 3-D Printing: Recycled Materials' Optimization and Mechanical Properties
- Green Fab Lab Applications of Large-Area Waste Polymer-based Additive Manufacturing
- 3-D Printable Polymer Pelletizer Chopper for Fused Granular Fabrication-Based Additive Manufacturing
- Systems Analysis for PET and Olefin Polymers in a Circular Economy