From a Sustainability Perspective, Why Should Bioplastics Be Used for Additive Manufacturing?

Abstract

As climate change awareness increases, the worldwide interest in efficiently using resources, materials, and energy increases. From producers to consumers, the demand for sustainability-oriented processes has become stronger across all stock market sectors. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a promising and relatively new manufacturing process that helps to overcome supply chain, logistics, and environmental issues that traditional processes face. Fortunately, AM can process different raw materials, such as glass, metal, ceramics, and plastics. Even though AM helps to reduce the use of the material in general, in the case of plastic, the environmental impact of their production and biodegradability remains an issue. As a response, plastics made from natural and renewable resources have become an alternative to the harmful conventional petroleum-based and no biodegradable plastics. Fortunately, there is evidence of products done through AM from these environmental-friendly plastics. The following review is intended to highlight (1) the opportunities and challenges for AM, (2) the comparison between bio and petroleum-plastic in 3D printing from a sustainability point of view, and (3) the economic and environmental benefits of this innovative combination of manufacturing processes and materials. This review provides a fundamental understanding and applied knowledge to create a new additive manufacturing platform based on renewable plant-based feedstocks.

A Multi-Criteria Approach for Quantifying the Impact of Global Megatrends on the Pulp and Paper Industry: Insights into Digitalization, Social Behavior Change, and Sustainability

“…In 2023, the Tissue Pack Innovation Lab identified that 92% and 86% of packaging was made from plastic, with 77% and 75% being recyclable for kitchen towels and toilet paper, respectively [102]. Regarding the biodegradability of this type of packaging, it all depends on the type of plastic used [113]. Thus, hygiene tissue companies are exploring the use of renewable and biodegradable materials to achieve more sustainable packaging for their products [25].…”