Sustainable Business

Technology 2/4 source desk printers ('or fabbers') like the RepRap (developed at Bath University), which launched in 2004. Since then, the market for 3D printers has widened with small-scale commercial, educational and home ('hobbyist') use rapidly growing. Over time, news stories have increasingly portrayed new applications, from dental implants to customised toys. The Economist even described the growth of 3D printing as the next industrial revolution, and back in 2009 wrote: "Homescale, or personalized manufacturing technologies offer a new approach to designing and making objects that will change the way we design, transport, and consume physical products, unleashing new product ideas". A global State of the Industry report, published in 2011, by US 3D printing experts, Terry Wohlers Associates, predicted growth of $3.1bn in 3D printing by 2016; the figures show the UK as the fifth largest country for 3D printer usage. But how do 3D printers work? First, 3D objects are created either by sending a digital product design file (more technically known as Computer Aided Design), or by making a scan of an existing 3D object, to a specialised 3D print- er. Then the 3D printer is loaded up with the raw materials (akin to the 'ink' in home inkjet printers), which can either be plastics, wood, metals or food, and the user presses print. The 3D object, of virtually any shape, then prints, as the raw material is squeezed through the print nozzle and deposited as material droplets, or strands, layer-bylayer, over and over again. The process, e created 3D objects ar digital ding a by sen ign file, or product des scan of by making a object, an existing 3D printer ed to a specialis loaded up hich is then w known as 'additive manufacturing', can take anywhere between several hours to several days. The growth in 3D printing has been accompanied by much debate as to whether the technology is good or bad for the environment. Terry Wohlers, President of US-based Wohlers Associates, a 3D printing expert, believes "the increasing popularity of 3D printing will help solve the key sustainability issues of the day". Various reports, such as the University of Lancaster's Big Innovation Centre 2012 report also voice similar messages. Pro-environment thinking is as follows: conventional methods of industrial manufacturing, such as CNC machining, use a subtractive process. This is essentially where products are made by cutting away at blocks of raw materials. As Wohler's points out, "this can result in around 80% of expensive metal becoming scrap". But with 3D printing, an additive manufacturing process, a minimal amount of material is wasted. "Less waste is much better for the environment", says Wohlers. Other general environmental arguments put forward include 3D printers reducing waste because products and parts would only be printed when needed, avoiding waste problems associated with excess or unsold production, including, for example, cost and energy use associated with storage. Further, customised products are expected to be optimised for their target use, suggesting extended product lifetime. On-site production, local to the consumer, has also been sug-

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