Print Cycle (April 2025 work session)
Mikhail Martynychev (Finance) Ayan Nadeem (Finance) Maitreyi Bhardwaj (Industrial Design)
What's the problem?
Electronic waste is piling up faster than we can manage it. Laptops, printers, and keyboards get tossed, but every component of them can be recycled, especially the plastic. The growing e-waste crisis, especially on university campuses, is worsened by the lack of accessible recycling solutions and a lack of awareness. At the same time, 3D printing is revolutionizing manufacturing and innovation, but ABS filament is expensive and unsustainable. The high cost of 3D printing filament limits student innovation. Valuable plastic resources that could be repurposed into educational tools for sustainable creation are being wasted, along with other electrical components.
But First...
First, we wanted to find a solution for e-waste because we knew it’s poorly managed and harmful to the environment. One of our team members, an industrial design major, mentioned how much filament gets wasted when she is 3D printing. We then decided to use plastic from e-waste, like old printers and computers from universities and offices, to make new filament? It connected two real problems we cared about and felt like a solution we could build ourselves.
Who is impacted?
College students
Defining a better solution to the problem
Our idea, which we're calling PrintCycle, is a device that recycles plastic from e-waste into affordable 3D printing filament. It addresses the e-waste crisis and lack of access to sustainable materials by turning discarded electronics into ABS filament, empowering students to create, innovate, and lead sustainability efforts right from their campuses.