ekocycle cube by will.i.am + coca-cola 3D prints using recycled plastic bottles

Very interesting!.
But the company is able to make a machine that was using plastic bottles or bags of supermarket purchasing directly from objects, that company would be selling your product, as users would not have to buy supplies to feed the machine and incidentally, would recycle.
I have no money to try the project, but would be happy to collaborate on the design or the idea of it.

The idea would be something like a destroyer of documents, convirtiese those plastic waste into strips, and later feed the 3D machine.
And according to the color of the plastic, so would the object.

Turriano says:

Jul 01, 2014

This is a great idea, but what is the embodied energy to turn the plastic bottles into cartridges, and are the cartridges made from the same recycled plastic?

Also so you have to pay to buy cartridges of recycled “junk”. Wouldn’t it be better to create something that turned the bottles into the cartridges and then prints them all in one package. This way it is free for the end user and creates a platform for people to actually want to be involved. This project, as cool as it is, will not make it into the lives and psyche of society because there is an extended cost on top of buying the printer, and to add to this, will.i.am and Coke have not put a compelling vision forward as to advantageous things that can be created. One can only print so many little plastic guitar picks and “wearable accessories” that are useful before they start being thrown away as junk and it defeats the original purpose and intention. It seems they have just jumped on the bandwagon of 3D printing instead of using their positions of influence to create something truly groundbreaking. I would not go out to buy one of these because all I can see is the extra cost required to make it a “cool thing” to do, and I cannot see the advantage of the printer apart from the fact it includes recycled plastic, and that it can print as any other 3D printer does. A “colour touch screen with intuitive technology” should be expected not put forward as a selling point for something that seems to be trying to solve a bigger problem.

I think this is where so many of these “cool ideas” fail, in that they are only cool in their own right but they do not get to the heart of the matter as to why people would buy them. They breach fad status, but never reach “must have” status. It looks cool and is great as a present and as something to talk about to your friends over coffee, but how often would you really use it after the first ten times.

Perhaps the application of the unit should be more geared towards commercial use and businesses where companies use this to create new products, then Coke could partner with these companies and create long term sustainable recycling of bottles.

I really think they have missed the mark and just managed to create a cool story for the interwebs. I sincerely hope I am proven wrong and this does take off, but I think they are only about 50% of the way there in terms of end users latching onto the idea.

Carl says:

Jul 02, 2014

“filament cartridge contains 25% of post consumer recycled materials” it says in the small print at the end. What this commercially inclined superficial pop star is saying is just a downright lie. This machine does NOT convert your own pet-bottles into print wire at all. Just arrogant eco-commercial nonsense, trying to make money on the naïve eco-fashion.

joris says:

Jul 02, 2014