Integrated User-Oriented Service for 3D Printing Environments with Recycled Material from Maritime Plastic Waste

Abstract

Plastic waste is a major concern for marine environment care, and many researchers and projects face the problem from different points of view. The European CircularSeas project aims to encourage the development of greener maritime industries through the combination of principles of Circular Economy, plastic recycling and 3D printing. However, while 3D printing has shown its benefits for conventional industry environments, the first issue discussed in this paper is whether 3D printing technology can also bring benefits to the maritime-port sector, where parts manufacturing, new prototyping trends and even product customization have not traditionally been major business issues. A secondary issue is how 3D printing and this specific user scenario could accommodate recycled plastic in a Circular Economy strategy in a feasible way. In an attempt to address both of these issues, the paper reviews some particularities of 3D printing open technologies and proposes a new integrated and user-oriented 3D printing framework, independent of hardware and adaptable to non-standard recycled plastic raw material from marine waste.