3 ms·
It's true, speaking from the current state of the 3D printing world. However... As the technology matures I personally believe it will be a net positive effect
by yummybear 6y ago
It's true, speaking from the current state of the 3D printing world. However...
As the technology matures I personally believe it will be a net positive effect. We will save on shipping, new materials will be more environmentally friendly, new printing methods will allow better control over colors, resolution, texture and multi-material printing. Plastic is not necessarily the only material - composites, ceramics, metal will become more available. 3D printing can likely also increase the reuse of products by increasing reparability.
Perhaps it will not be in the current form of 3D-printing. I imagine specialty or high end printing will be from local printing shops, like high end printing products are today.
- louwrentius 6y agoI agree that such benefits could exist, but what I've mostly observed is just nerds 'playing' with their toys. That's a netto negative. Plastics is certainly not the only material, but most people do use them. They are the cheapest. I would like to see actual numbers (easy for me to ask, I know) to become less sceptical. It's awesome tech, but I feel that at no point is the environmental friendliness really, genuinely part of the equation.
- Symbiote 6y agoA "toy" wasting biodegradable plastic (made from maize) seems fairly low impact, compared to many other hobbies. Just driving 20km round trip for any other hobby you care to name uses a litre of petrol. That's 5-10 medium-large toys, or a hundred trinkets.