Will.i.am’s eco-friendly 3D printer runs on recycled Coca-Cola bottles
The tech-obsessed Black Eyed Peas frontman wants to make 3D printing and sustainability “cool”
Will.i.am just won’t stop poking his fingers into as many tech pies as possible. The Black Eyed Peas de facto leader has already been involved with Intel, started a car company, shown off his own phonecall-making smartwatch on TV and launched an ill-advised camera add-on for the iPhone – and now he’s turned his gaze on 3D printing.
The rapper is chief creative officer at 3D Systems, and today announced that the company will join forces with Coca-Cola’s Ekocycle programme (which Will.i.am co-founded) to create a 3D printer that uses recycled plastic bottles as its building material.
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The Ekocycle Cube 3D printer will use filament cartridges that are 25 percent recycled plastic – there’s around three 500ml Coke bottles in each one – and can produce objects that are up to 6in square. Colours available at launch will be red, black, white and transparent (yes, the colours associated with Coke bottles) and anyone who buys the Cube printer will get free access to 25 designs for objects including phone cases, vases and shoes. The designs, of course, come from Will.i.am himself.
The Cube will be sold for US$1,119 (around £700) and will be available at some point in the second half of 2014.
Will.i.am said the aim of the Cube is to reduce waste in a way that resonates with with the public: “We will make it cool to recycle, and we will make it cool to make products using recycled materials. This is the beginning of a more sustainable 3D-printed lifestyle. Waste is only waste if we waste it.”
[Via The Guardian]
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Sam Kieldsen
Contributor 
