Innovation transforms global challenge into sustainable solution

As the world struggles with growing plastic waste, a team of mechanical engineering students from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) of Dubai has trialled an innovative approach to turning this global challenge into a sustainable solution.

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As part of their graduation project, Reem Aly, Shriya Vijay, Vishnu Shyju, and Muhammed Sharfuddin, worked under the supervision of Dr Wael A. Samad, Chair of the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, to transform discarded water bottles into usable filament for 3D printing.

Collecting bottles from around campus, the team took on the challenge of recycling the common PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) plastics, the kind used for everyday water bottles. The students shredded the plastic into flakes, dried it to remove moisture and prevent hydrolytic degradation, and extruded it into recycled filament. The experiment demonstrates that, on average, 12 standard 1.5-liter bottles would be enough to produce a 30-meter spool of filament, fully compatible with any desktop FDM 3D printer.