Everytime i come across a 3d printing post
-
And in my defense this is a shitpost community.
-
This post did not contain any content.
The fashion industry and the automotive industry are far and away the largest contributors to global microplastics. I'm not even sure if 3d printing people crack the top 100.
The majority of the 3d printed slop people see around is printed in PLA because it's the cheapest and easiest to print typically. PLA will completely degrade in a few months in the correct conditions. At worst it will still break down after a few hundred years.
The more expensive and chemically complex filaments are a different story. The good news is that most people only print "useful" things with those more expensive materials. I have never seen anyone printing a Pikachu toothpaste poop dispenser out of carbon fiber reinforced nylon filament.
Of all the things to be worried about in terms of micro plastics 3d printing really shouldn't bother you. There are many MANY much larger fish to fry in that department first.
-
This post did not contain any content.wrote last edited by [email protected]
The plastic filament I use can be near infinitely recycled and is also biodegradable, while being made from plant resin and not hydrocarbons. This shit will break down before it even gets a chance to be used if not stored properly.
-
That's fine, just getting ahead of it so you're informed
-
And in my defense this is a shitpost community.
In my defense, in certain terms, you've got an itty bitty peepee
-
What do you think the net pollution of Luigi's alleged Glock and suppressor print is, all things considered?
Any 3D printed gun is carbon negative if used to take out virtually any human. People do not live sustainable lives.
-
In my defense, in certain terms, you've got an itty bitty peepee
And here I thought you blocked me!
I’m glad you saw the light and would like to continue to see my genius contributions to the conversations.
-
And here I thought you blocked me!
I’m glad you saw the light and would like to continue to see my genius contributions to the conversations.
Oh yeah buddy you are blocked and I'm delighted, I just didn't want a notification every time you spoke I can still see your messages and contribute voluntarily, love learning nuance of moderation systems, anyway, it's been an honor to hear that when Ur-a-pee-an, your dick is 5mm and honestly, it's been a delightful honor to be gifted this knowledge by one such as you
-
Oh yeah buddy you are blocked and I'm delighted, I just didn't want a notification every time you spoke I can still see your messages and contribute voluntarily, love learning nuance of moderation systems, anyway, it's been an honor to hear that when Ur-a-pee-an, your dick is 5mm and honestly, it's been a delightful honor to be gifted this knowledge by one such as you
Sir (or madam) you do realize this is a serious shitposting community right?
-
Sir (or madam) you do realize this is a serious shitposting community right?
Oh yeah for sure I do, just enjoying you for a moment.
-
Sir (or madam) you do realize this is a serious shitposting community right?
I'm sure everyone reading this will enjoy the shitpostyness of this reply section, starring you! Satan's Maggoty Cum Fart, Satan loves this kinda thing
-
Sir (or madam) you do realize this is a serious shitposting community right?
I even put up a nice little sign for you, I thought it was cute, it was my favorite from google
-
I even put up a nice little sign for you, I thought it was cute, it was my favorite from google
See it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of a sense of humor now does it?
-
See it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of a sense of humor now does it?
pokes gently nop, good job cumfart
-
Do you....drive a car? Rubber rubbing off from your tires onto the road is one of the main contribution (2nd highest) to ocean micro plastics as your tires are filled with them suspended in the tire...
-
pokes gently nop, good job cumfart
What did you just call me?
-
UsernameHere has it right below you love
-
What did you just call me?
Pipette cumfart
-
Pipette cumfart
This section is actually so long that my app is not letting me see your replies because the (continue thread) button doesn't work but, Pipette SatansMaggotyCumFart esq. Formally known as cumfart, just wanna say what a great name that is and you're beautiful for it
-
The only thing that matters is if it’s biodegradable. If the plastic won’t break down naturally, it doesn’t matter if it’s made from starch or crude oil.
Polylactic acid is a low weight semi-crystalline bioplastic used in agriculture, medicine, packaging and textile. Polylactic acid is one of the most widely used biopolymers, accounting for 33% of all bioplastics produced in 2021. Although biodegradable in vivo, polylactic acid is not completely degradable under natural environmental conditions, notably under aquatic conditions. Polylactic acid disintegrates into microplastics faster than petroleum-based plastics and may pose severe threats to the exposed biota.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10311-023-01564-8
From what I've seen, at the bare minimum, it will break down completely back into plant polymers faster than other plastics could hope to break down into anything non-dangerous to the environment, and even if it does break down into microplastics quicker, I'd rather have something like that, which can then later break down into plant polymers, rather than something that slowly leeches microplastics into the environment for the next few centuries, and doesn't really break down into anything much less dangerous past that point.
To cite some interesting points from the paper you referenced:
The biodegradation of polylactic acid occurs in two main steps: fragmentation and mineralization. [...] which can be biotic or abiotic. For instance, biotic hydrolysis involves microorganisms and/or enzymes, whereas abiotic hydrolysis involves mechanical weathering.
This means it can break down via multiple mechanisms, with or without the presence of any microbes, but only given specific environmental circumstances, which is why it doesn't work well in aquatic environments, as previously mentioned. However, some of it does still break down there, and if it later exits that aquatic environment, other processes can begin to break down what remains.
The authors concluded that polylactic acid and its blends are similar to non-biodegradable plastics in terms of biodegradation in aquatic environment.
[They] proposed that low temperatures along with low bacterial density make the sea water unsuitable for the biodegradation of polylactic acid.
However, on the microplastics point, while they do state it degrades quickly, in terms of overall quantity of microplastics produced, it's actually lower than other common plastics.
The authors reported that polylactic acid forms almost 18 times fewer microplastics as compared to the petroleum-based plastic, polypropylene.
They do still mention that it will still likely have many negative effects on marine life, though, even given that. Surely we'll stop dumping plastics in the ocean now, for the good of the planet! Or not, because profits matter more, am I right?
From another study, it seems that soil with certain combinations of bacteria, at regular temperatures found in nature, could mineralize about 24% of PLA in 150 days, which is pretty damn good compared to how long it would take non-bioplastics to do so.
And of course, when put into dedicated composting facilities that can reach high temperatures, PLA can be composted extremely effectively. And this is just regular PLA we're talking about, not things like cPLA, which can be 100% composted within regular composting facilities within 2-4 months. (coincidentally, most biodegradable utensils are now made of cPLA)
I wouldn't doubt we start seeing even more compostable variants of filament for 3D printers specifically popping up as actual distribution and manufacturing for the material becomes more cost effective and widespread. I was able to find cPLA filament at a reasonable price just from a simple search, and there's even a biodegradable flexible filament as an alternative to TPU, made of oyster powder, which is 100% compostable (though is about 4-8X the price of regular TPU per gram as of now)
None of this discounts any of the current environmental impacts of 3D printing materials, of course, but a lot of PLA now can already be almost entirely, if not actually entirely composted in local municipal composting facilities, and there's even more compostable alternatives that exist today.
I compost my failed or no-longer-needed PLA prints, and my city even explicitly states to put it in my compost bin, as it's supported by our composting system.
