Ocean Garbage Recycled by 3D Printing and 3D Scanning Services

Save the garbage!

Ever heard of “save the whales” or “save the planet”? Well I have a new bumper sticker for you. How about ‘save the plastic’? While the whales are basking in the glory of all that attention, millions of plastic pieces are lost afloat at sea and no one cares. What a tragedy! In fact the World Trade Organization estimated that garbage would outnumber fish in the oceans by 2050. Wow! That is a hunk of floating junk. Something has to be done, and someone has to do it now! Fortunately 3D printing and 3D scanning services have raised their sails and are charging to the rescue.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

The company’s name is Clean Currents, Inc. headed up by a guy who, quite frankly, was fed up with seeing all the garbage littering the cities and coastlands around the world. He was the man with the plan. He knew that there was a better way than just throwing it away. Apparently people had already tried “throwing it away” and it landed in the ocean. So his mind turned to 3D printing to take one man’s trash and turn it into someone else’s treasure using 3D printing and 3D scanning services. Although, in the past, others had made some attempts at turning ocean trash into cash, he was determined to be the guy that was really going to get it done.

Just think what you can do

So what can you make out of mounds of floating rubbish?  When it comes to 3D printing and 3D scanning services, the options are limitless. You could do toys, tools, containers, furniture, or whatever you can imagine. Clean Currents could do all of these things. All that is needed is the supply of garbage from the ocean and the designers to make something out of it. The idea behind Clean Currents is also to allow for on-demand printing of a product made of ocean garbage. Customers can choose the model that they want and then it will be printed and delivered in no time. This is all made possible by 3D printing services.  

clean it up

As mentioned before, the resources for creating products out of garbage are plentiful. Right now the company is using garbage collected around the waters and coastlines of Puerto Rico, with the help of a lot of volunteers from that country. They are also looking to Oceanwork and Ocean Cleanup Project as a means of collecting garbage. The materials that they do collect will then be put through a process to clean it up and prepare it for manufacturing.

This whole idea of taking ocean garbage and making it into a profitable business is a fantastic idea. After all, it helps clean up our oceans. If someone is willing to take the initiative to make use of all that garbage, I say more power to him. Of course, it would be a better idea to try to run the guy out of business by making it hard to find any garbage in the ocean. But the reality is that there is garbage in the ocean, and somebody has to clean it up and put it to good use. It might as well be Clean Currents using 3D printing and 3D scanning services.

Keep reading: more articles about 3D scanning

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