Francofil partners with Veolia to manufacture 3D filaments made of recycled plastic

January 1, 2022

Francofil - a member of Mov'eo specializing in the production of technical filaments for 3D printing - has joined forces with Veolia to manufacture filaments from recycled plastic. While 3D filament manufacturing techniques are generally reserved for recycled resins such as PET, PS and black ABS, Veolia and Francofil are innovating with the manufacture of filaments from recycled polypropylene (PP) and coloured ABS.

Many sectors use 3D printing. This is the case in the automotive, electronics, aeronautics, biomedical or architectural industries to produce their prototypes: vehicle rims, medical prostheses or models. 3D printers use plastic filaments as their main consumable, because this material is cheaper, flexible, resistant, and comes in a wide variety of colours.  In this partnership, Veolia supplies recycled resins to Francofil, which produces the filaments for 3D printers. The new filaments made from recycled polypropylene and coloured ABS are of high quality for perfect printing.

“Francofil - a member of Mov'eo specializing in the production of technical filaments for 3D printing - has joined forces with Veolia to manufacture filaments from recycled plastic. The innovation brought here is the result of collaboration between our teams and those of Francofil. Veolia's expertise ensures that the characteristics of the filament and those of the recycled plastics are matched.”

Marc-Antoine Belthé, Director of Development of Veolia's Waste Recycling and Recovery business in France

“Veolia provides us with a variety of high quality and consistent recycled plastics that are essential in the manufacture of 3D printing filaments. We can now offer our customers recycled material instead of virgin material for advanced materials.”

Florent Port, Francofil's chairman

Global 3D printing figures for the industry of the future An IDC (International Data Corporation) report published in 2019 predicted a growth in 3D printing of +19% per year until 2022, mainly for various manufacturers:

2021: 30% of printed circuit board manufacturing; 100% of sports equipment manufacturers,
2022: 20% of 3D printer manufacturers will offer printing "as a service",
2023: 50% of the industrial sector with artificial intelligence,
2023: up to 80% of the world's health care spending,
2024: the blockchain will protect 35% of 3D print files to reduce costs.

3D printing is one of the key technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, alongside artificial intelligence, robotics or blockchain. Combined with artificial intelligence and robotics, it will enable 800 of the world's largest factories to reduce the waste of raw materials by 25%.

  Source: Press release - VEOLIA