Memorial University students have developed a 3D printer that can use 3D printing filaments made from plastic waste that they actively reclaim from the oceans—and they’re getting noticed across the country.
Lost fishing gear and water bottles are just a few examples of repurposed plastic waste.
The students’ innovation has racked up national award wins including the Scotiabank Climate Change Challenge at the Enactus Canada Regional Exposition and Ocean Startup Project’s inaugural Ocean Communities Climate Challenge.
The Enactus Memorial estimates the density of plastic pollution in the oceans around Newfoundland and Labrador to be about 5,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer.
Project R3D expects to save about 5,000 pounds of plastic from landfills by the end of next year.