3D Printing Technology's Impact on Waste Management: ITECH 1100 Report

This report examines the transformative impact of 3D printing technology on waste management. It begins by defining 3D printing as a computer-aided manufacturing process that builds 3D objects layer by layer, contrasting it with traditional subtractive methods and highlighting its potential for reduced waste generation. The report then details how 3D printing can change the industry by minimizing waste during manufacturing, facilitating the production of recyclable products, and creating outlets for waste storage. A case study illustrates the benefits of 3D printing in waste management, outlining its architecture, market acceptance, and ethical considerations. The report further analyzes a business process model, demonstrating how 3D printing can improve waste management by reducing waste in manufacturing and promoting the use of recyclable materials, ultimately benefiting the entire waste management process. The report includes figures illustrating waste management processes with and without 3D printing, and concludes by emphasizing the technology's role in creating a more sustainable future.

Running Head: 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Part 1................................................................................................................................................2
Part 2................................................................................................................................................3
Part 3................................................................................................................................................3
Part 4................................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Part 1
Description of the technology
3D printing technology is considered as a revolution in the industry. This induces the fact
that there have been a proper research being performed on developing the technology. 3D
printers are considered as a computer aided manufacturing device which will be creating and
manufacturing 3D objects. The entire process functions similar to the traditional printer.
However in case of the 3D printer, it receives signal and data from the computer. The main
difference that is observed is that instead of printing on the paper, it starts building 3D models
(Long et al, 2017). This manufacturing is considered as additive manufacturing model. It is
observed the amount of waste generated in the processing of the 3D printing is much lower than
that of the subtractive manufacturing devices.
Waste management has been one of the major concern in today’s society. This ensures
that proper assessment of the current scenario is very important (Melchiorri et al, 2016). This
ensures that proper assessment regarding the steps that are to be taken for performing waste
management is important. Restoring social and environment status with the help of proper waste
management has been acting highly important in the process.
A blend of 3D technology with waste management processes might be acting as a benefit
in this case. The main aspect that is considered is that 3D printer heats and fuses layers of plastic
with the help of fused deposition modelling. In case of creating a metallic object, a 3D printer
will be using the process of direct metal laser sintering method (Ma, Wang & 2018). Hence wise
this ensures that the layer of metal will be getting thinned and hence wise it can ne stated that
this technology will be affecting waste management in a proper manner.

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Part 2
3 ways technology will be changing the industry
The ways are as follows: -
 Reduction in generation of waste during manufacturing generation of the
In this case the process that is used for manufacturing is highly eco-friendly. The process
initiates with developing of the plastic models in a manner that will generate least amount of
waste. The process includes heating and fusing layers of plastic in a method named fused
deposition modelling. In case of creation of metal products, the technology that is to be used is
named direct metal laser sintering process (Pakkanen et al, 2018). Both these methods helps in
decreasing the generation of waste while manufacturing process.
 Manufacturing recyclable products
The main aspect that is to be considered in this section is that the manufacturing product
is a polymer. This usage of the polymer ensures that even after using the product it can be
reused. This reusing of the product makes the same recyclable in nature (Nayak & Padhye 2015).
 Acts as an outlet for wastes
Creation of models that will be acting as outlets for storing of waste also gets easier with the help
of the 3D printing technology.
Part 3
One of the change that will be enjoyed in the industry and 4 factors that will make the
impact possible.

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The change selected for performing this section is generating less wastes during the
manufacturing process.
Market
This technology is very well accepted by the client as in case the generation of waste is
reduced during the manufacturing of the product, it can be stated that the need of waste
management will be decreasing. This has been the prime reason of higher acceptance of the
technology (Saripalle et al, 2016).
Law
The laws that are related to the waste management are needed to be followed. The laws
of manufacturing process are also to be met in order to keep the process legal.
Architecture
The architecture of 3D printing technology includes the likes of fused deposition
modeling and Direct metal laser sintering. These architectures are used for manufacturing plastic
and metal products respectively.
Norm (Social/ Ethical)
As per the ethical concern it can be stated that the functional processing of 3D printing in
the waste management section is highly ethical in nature. Both socially and ethically this
technology has been befitting mankind in performing proper waste management (Mohammed et
al, 2017).

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Part 4
Event: Waste management getting easier with the implementation of 3D printing. This
section is primarily concerned with the waste management and it can be stated that with the help
of the usage of the 3D printing it gets easier to perform waste management as it generates less
waste in the very first place.
Activity: Manufacture products with the help of 3D printers.
Decision Point: The decision point will be the equilibrium in the waste generation
accumulator score. In case the score is seen to be decreasing on using the 3D printing, it can be
stated that the technology will be accepted and if the score increases, the technology will not be
accepted.
Actor: Waste management teams
Outcomes: The outcomes of implementing the technology is esteemed to be good.
Improvement that is to be brought with the help of Business Process Model
With the implementation of the technology of 3D printing technology the main alteration
that will be experienced is that the waste that will be generated in the initial stage of
manufacturing of the products. With the help of the implementation of 3D printing technology
the main aspect that is to be considered is that in the time of manufacturing the waste that is
generated is very low. With the help of proper assessment of the waste that are generated are
mostly recyclable in nature. This is one of the major reason that the processing of the 3D
technology implementation will be benefitting the waste management process. This proper waste
management in the initial stage of waste management will be performed in a better manner.
Again if this technology was not implemented, the amount of waste generated is very high. This

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high waste generation will be acting as a reason of issue and hence it can be stated that this will
be benefitting the entire process of waste management.
Figure 1: Waste Management process
(Created by author)
Figure 2: Waste management with 3D printing technology
(Created by author)

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References
Long, Y., Pan, J., Zhang, Q., & Hao, Y. (2017). 3D printing technology and its impact on
Chinese manufacturing. International Journal of Production Research, 55(5), 1488-1497.
Ma, G., Wang, L., & Ju, Y. (2018). State-of-the-art of 3D printing technology of cementitious
material—An emerging technique for construction. Science China Technological
Sciences, 61(4), 475-495.
Hunt, E. J., Zhang, C., Anzalone, N., & Pearce, J. M. (2015). Polymer recycling codes for
distributed manufacturing with 3-D printers. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 97,
24-30.
Melchiorri, A. J., Hibino, N., Best, C. A., Yi, T., Lee, Y. U., Kraynak, C. A., ... & Fisher, J. P.
(2016). 3D‐printed biodegradable polymeric vascular grafts. Advanced healthcare
materials, 5(3), 319-325.
Mohammed, M., Mohan, M., Das, A., Johnson, M. D., Badwal, P. S., McLean, D., & Gibson, I.
(2017, January). A low carbon footprint approach to the reconstitution of plastics into
3D-printer filament for enhanced waste reduction. In DesTech 2016: Proceedings of the
International Conference on Design and Technology (pp. 234-241). Knowledge E.
Nayak, R., & Padhye, R. (Eds.). (2015). Garment manufacturing technology. Elsevier.
Pakkanen, J., Manfredi, D., Minetola, P., & Iuliano, L. (2017, April). About the use of recycled
or biodegradable filaments for sustainability of 3D printing. In International Conference
on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing (pp. 776-785). Springer, Cham.

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Saripalle, S., Maker, H., Bush, A., & Lundman, N. (2016, October). 3D printing for disaster
preparedness: Making life-saving supplies on-site, on-demand, on-time. In 2016 IEEE
Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC) (pp. 205-208). IEEE.