Ford, working with HP, has started recycling 3D printed parts and powder and is using the plastic to make fuel clips for the F-250 truck. The waste plastic, along with similar waste from the dental company SmileDirectClub (which apparently has 60 3D printers making 40,000 aligners a day), gets sent to a company called Lavergne that turns it into plastic pellets that can then be used in injection molding machines. Those pellets are then used by one of Ford’s suppliers, ARaymond, to make the fuel clips.
Importantly, Ford says that the fuel clips made from this recycled printer waste are more resistant to chemicals and moisture, as well as being 7 percent lighter and 10 percent cheaper than the clips it has been using until now. “Many companies are finding great uses for 3D printing technologies, but together with HP, we’re the first to find a high-value application for waste powder that likely would have gone to landfill, transforming it into functional and durable auto parts,” said Debbie Mielewski, a technical fellow at Ford.