Recently my mother in law mailed me an article about Reflow, an Amsterdam-based company harnessing the power of 3D Printing to create a fairer, more inclusive future.
Reflow developed a specific technology to create a high value product from the plastic material that waste collectors gather. Previously supported by seed funding and the founders’ own money, the company closed off a Kickstarter campaign in June 2016, and plans to launch the product in Amsterdam in February 2017.
How this innovation will contribute concretely to a better world is clearly explained on the Kickstarter page: “For every kilogram of filament you buy, a waste collector can feed his family for five days—and 120 plastic bottles are removed from the street. We’re driven to grow the communities we work with, and that’s why we invest twenty-five percent of our profits into exciting local manufacturing initiatives.”
For now, the Reflow team is still working on quality control. The quality of the filament made from recycled waste plastic is a challenge for the whole 3D printing industry. The latter is well explained in a good longread on recycling plastic on theguardian.com. When ready, the Reflow filament will be made from recycled PET plastic gathered in Tanzania. It comes in 750g rolls in two standard sizes: 1.75mm & 2.85mm.
Anyway, I decided to stay tuned via the Reflow mailinglist. Why not using this reflow plastic filament for my hairpin prototype testing and thus creating beauty accessories for a better world too.