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Type Paper
Cite as Citation reference for the source document. Feeley, S. R., Wijnen, B., & Pearce, J. M. (2014). Evaluation of Potential Fair Trade Standards for an Ethical 3-D Printing Filament. Journal of Sustainable Development, 7(5), 1-12. DOI: 10.5539/jsd.v7n5p1 open access

Following the rapid rise of distributed additive manufacturing with 3-D printing has come the technical development of filament extruders and recyclebots, which can turn both virgin polymer pellets and post-consumer shredded plastic into 3-D filament. Similar to the solutions proposed for other forms of ethical manufacturing, it is possible to consider a form of ethical 3-D printer filament distribution being developed. There is a market opportunity for producing this ethical 3-D printer filament, which is addressed in this paper by developing an "ethical product standard" for 3-D filament based upon a combination of existing fair-trade standards and technical and life cycle analysis of recycled filament production and 3-D printing manufacturing. These standards apply to businesses that can enable the economic development of waste pickers and include i) minimum pricing, ii) fair trade premium, iii) labor standards, iv) environmental and technical standards, v) health and safety standards, and vi) social standards including those that cover discrimination, harassment, freedom of association, collective bargaining and discipline.

Major Organizations[edit | edit source]

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First Example[edit | edit source]

  • Protoprint in India had the first fair trade filament for sale [1]

See also[edit | edit source]

ProtoPrint
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ProtoPrint employees waste pickers in India to use a FlakerBot and RefilBot that make HDPE waste into filament

In the News[edit | edit source]

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Authors Joshua M. Pearce
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Translations French
Related 1 subpages, 182 pages link here
Impact 767 page views
Created September 20, 2014 by Joshua M. Pearce
Modified February 23, 2024 by Maintenance script
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