Here at Kompakt, we love recycling machines, it’s everything we are about, and of course, we love coffee machines; who doesn’t love a nice creamy coffee?
So, what about coffee recycling machines, could that actually be a real thing? Well, now it is!
In fact, it gets even better than that. In theory, you could use recycled coffee through a coffee recycling machine to make a recycled coffee plastic mug to drink your coffee in. Are you still following?
3D printing filament company 3Dom has worked with c2renew, a biocomposite developer, to create a 3D printing filament from recycled coffee grounds. In effect, 3D printers become recycling machines as the eco friendly filament is used, which is a fantastic bit of progress for the industry.
The recycled coffee filament is called Wound Up, and is a combination of coffee grounds and PLA, a very popular type of biodegradable polyester. As it goes through coffee recycling machines, the heat causes the plastic to melt, allowing the printer to create shapes, but an awesome side effect is that it actually smells like brewing coffee!
Smell, appearance and value!
As well as an awesome smell, the plastic has a natural grainy appearance which we think looks amazing, a bit like walnut. The 3D filament is available at $49 for a kilogram spool.
3Dom is working on two more recycled food plastic filaments to turn 3D printers into recycling machines, which we will be sure to update you on when they are released.
Earlier this year, we put together a brilliant (if we do say so ourself) article about an iKettle, which is another example of incredible resource efficiency. In the example of the iKettle, the resource is time, rather than recycled plastic, but the principle is the same. The inventor saw a gap in the market for something that would be a beneficial technological advancement. Here’s an extract from the article:
“Save two days a year with a wifikettle”
We’ve seen some bold claims in our time, but reading that an ‘iKettle’ could save us two days a year is right up there. However, it’s only fair that we do the math.
Let’s ‘agree’ that it takes five minutes to walk to the kettle, fill it, turn it on and wait for it to boil. Personally, I have three cups of either tea or coffee per weekday, only one at weekends. That’s 85 minutes a week. Equating to 73 hours and 40 minutes a year. That’s just over three days, but when I consider that I’m asleep a third of the time, it’s more than four days per year stood waiting by the kettle.
This is alarming, but of course, it’s what you do whilst waiting for the kettle to boil that is important.
For now, watch their video!