The challenge: a pile of spools no one will take
Every workshop running FDM printing at any scale ends up with the same quiet problem. A stack of empty spools by the door and a milk crate of failed prints under the bench. Kerbside services across Western Australia will not accept PLA, PETG, ABS or nylon, and the spools themselves combine plastic, cardboard and steel in ways that frustrate most local recyclers. Sending the waste interstate or overseas rarely makes commercial or environmental sense for a one kilogram reel.
Recycl3D is our response. It is an in-store return program run jointly by Global3D and OzFDM that turns empty spools and failed prints into store credit, then turns the material itself into new large-format parts and recycled filament. The loop sits entirely in our Perth workshop.
Our approach: pay customers, sort at the counter
The program is built around removing friction. Customers bring in empty OzFDM spools or compatible third-party reels, plus any failed prints they have accumulated, and we credit their OzFDM account at the counter. There is no minimum quantity, no booking, and no paperwork to fill out. Spools are weighed, materials are identified at intake, and the credit lands on the account on the spot.
The rebate sits at ten cents per empty spool, with failed prints accepted by weight. It is a modest figure on its own, but for a university lab or a prototyping bureau running thousands of metres of filament every month, the rebate accumulates into real savings on the next order.
How the program works
A summary of the steps from drop-off through to credit:
- Drop empty spools and failed prints at the Global3D counter during normal workshop hours.
- Materials are sorted by polymer at intake, so PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA and PA-based prints all have a home.
- We weigh and log everything, then credit ten cents per spool to your OzFDM account on the spot.
- Failed prints are paid by weight against a published schedule.
- Credit is redeemable across the OzFDM catalogue, including the recycled filament lines.
Closing the loop in the workshop
Returned material is granulated in-house, dried to a schedule that matches the polymer, then fed into our Titan EXT1070 large-format pellet extruder. From there it goes one of two ways. Some material is printed directly into large-format jobs such as tooling masters, scale models and architectural mock-ups. The rest is blended with virgin pellets and additives, then re-spooled under the OzFDM recycled line.
Recycled polymer behaves very differently to virgin material. Moisture uptake, chain-length reduction, contamination and colour pooling all push process windows around. Getting a consistent product out the other end is what the R&D work has been about, and the recipe is now stable enough to ship.
What it means for Perth makers Further reading