Recycled materials – from scratch we started to develop an enormous wide portfolio of materials and colors for 3D printing which were ordered in small volumes per type and color from our customers at that time, high percentages of waste as a result.
Recycled materials
RECYCLING & RE-USE
History
A long, long, time ago (2014) we started our activities as Dutch Filaments. From scratch we started to develop an enormous wide portfolio of materials and colors for 3D printing which were ordered in small volumes per type and color from our customers at that time, high percentages of waste as a result.
What to do with it?
In the years that followed, we grew, often together with our customers, and the kilograms of production and waste increased. We continued to collect, sort and shred these flows. Very few waste has been thrown away, because we were determined to make products out of it once again. From March 2018, we became part of Mitsubishi Chemical and came into contact with the Kaiteki philosophy, which strives to ensure that all business is sustainable, technically innovative and economical.
This, together with the fact that we now produce well more than 100 tons of filament every month, stimulated us to invest in the processes to eventually make and sell recycled products. Our waste is extrusion start-up, color transitions, out of specification filaments, incomplete reels and leftovers.
Of course, the first goal is to make as little waste as possible. This percentage fell sharply in 2019, partly due to dosed re-use of materials, but mainly due to more accuracy and efficiency. Furthermore, we are very proud to announce that all processes are now ready to recycle our own waste and to offer you ‘new recycled & different’ filaments and granules. Our target for 2020 and beyond is to re-use and recycle up to 95% of our waste.
Is continuity guaranteed?
First of all, we gathered a lot and with the processes in place, we start gathering waste streams from 3rd party companies. We expect to be able to supply all recycled products that we generally launch sufficiently. If this does not work in an exceptional case or if there are major changes to the product, we will report this at least 3 months in advance.
The recycling & re-use program of materials are split in 3 groups:
Post-Industrial, Post-Consumer and Re-use.
We are looking for partnerships and/or waste streams of materials which can be used to strengthen our recycling and reuse material program.
We do believe in recycling and together with you we hope to make the world more Kaiteki.