Revolutionizing Healthcare Waste Management : A Sustainable Approach through PETG Recycling and 3D Printing

Abstract

This research project aims to explore the innovative repurposing of recycled plastic hospital waste to produce good quality 3D city maps. The core inquiry guiding this thesis is: “How can recycled plastic hospital waste be effectively employed in the 3D printing of city maps, and how can the associated technology be optimised for small-scale production, taking into consideration the environmental, economic, and social aspects?”. Collaborating with a department of the University Medical Centre Groningen, and the lectureship Circular Plastics at NHL Stenden, the study will identify and convert suitable plastic waste, more specifically PETG packaging, into filament. Concurrently, a partnership with City Scale, an experienced city map 3D printing company, is established to enhance the overall 3D printing process. The objective is to successfully print 3D city maps using recycled plastic and assess the recycled plastic’s potential for a good quality 3D printing of a city map. This research is significant for its emphasis on contributing to the circular economy by transforming hospital plastic waste into a closed-loop system. The study's key components include examining the potential of PETG for 3D printing, implementing quality control measures, and optimising the 3D printing process by discussing its environmental, economic, and social impacts. The higher goal is to establish a small-scale production system for 3D printing maps using recycled plastic from the microbiology lab at the hospital of the University Medical Center Groningen. Experiments in shredding, filament making, and 3D printing, will be conducted at the 3D printing lab at NHL Stenden. The study aims to provide valuable insights into the applicability of recycled PETG material to produce high-quality 3D-printed city maps. It seeks to establish the general suitability of this material for 3D printing, with a specific focus on creating a detailed model like a city map. This research, established within a time frame of four months, affirms that recycled PETG packaging from clean hospital plastic waste is suitable for 3D printing, enabling the successful printing of individual parts. However, printing the entire city map compromises the overall quality with high chances of failure because of the filament quality. The experimental and comprehensive evaluation showcases that printing the entire city map with acceptable quality requires further refinement in terms of filament production, to decrease the clogging chances of the filament, and thus, failure of the print. Furthermore, the optimization of the production process demonstrated the feasibility of implementing a closed-loop system using PETG recycled packaging. This approach considers key factors such as environmental impacts, where the energy consumption and CO2 emissions experiments confirmed that a 3D printing production system based on recycled PETG plastic is more efficient than a production system based on virgin PETG. The cost analysis was established to showcase the costs of the production systems and how they differ from one printer to another. The closed-loop production system of 3D-printed city maps using recycled PETG within the hospital demonstrated an important social impact. This was exemplified through the hospital community’s enhanced environmental responsibility, underscoring a heightened potential in commitment to sustainability and increased societal value. The potential commissioning party for this thesis included the Circular Plastics Lectureship department at NHL Stenden, as well as the University Medical Centre Groningen, reflecting the collaborative nature of this research endeavour.