This is a question that comes up a lot and it’s not the easiest to answer.
Most of what I print is printed with something called PLA or polylactic acid. This is a material made from natural sources like corn starch or sugarcane, making it better for the environment than traditional plastics made from fossil fuels. One of its biggest advantages is that it is biodegradable. This means it can break down naturally over time, reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills or pollutes our oceans. Unlike regular plastics, which can take hundreds of years to decompose, PLA can return to the earth in months under the right conditions, such as in industrial composting facilities. It can also be incinerated to provide energy. This leaves no harmful residues and doesn’t release harmful chemicals into the atmosphere.
Another benefit of PLA is that it produces fewer greenhouse gases during its production compared to traditional plastics. This helps to reduce the impact of climate change. Since it is made from renewable resources, PLA also doesn’t deplete finite resources like oil. Using materials like PLA encourages sustainable farming and reduces our reliance on harmful chemicals and processes. While it’s not a perfect solution, PLA is a big step forward in creating a greener future.
It’s not perfect by any means but it is massively better than products that get shipped in by the container load that have been injection moulded from other types of plastic.
The other thing to remember is that 3D printing lends itself to small production runs. A lot of what I sell is made to order or, if it’s a popular item, I might print 2 or 3 so that I can ship quickly. If I design a new light and it doesn’t sell well, I will probably have 100g of material to dispose of rather than thousands of units that will almost certainly end up polluting our planet in some way.