I am browsing on the Internet this morning and I discovered a company that I should have known earlier – at least ever since we decided to shed light on companies producing in a sustainable way. Bacth.Works is that company. Founded in 2018, this circular manufacturer headquartered in the UK, combines 3D printing and recycled materials to make 3D printed consumer products a reality for the consumer.
I like their ideology: prioritizing collaboration with local makers and designers to create on demand designs and projects. This is pivotal for reducing supply chain waste. Most importantly, they involve all stakeholders in their journey since they aim to provide greater traceability of products allowing consumers to collect and recycle products with full history attached.
“This will allow us to monitor how many recycle loops each batch of material/plastic has been through to ensure our products remain high-quality and to deliver maximum through-life value for our recycled plastic feedstock. In doing so, we can also provide more detailed supply chain visibility which will keep us accountable for minimising our waste products,” Innovate UK explains.
The company relies on FDM 3D printing for their projects; a technology they find flexible and scalable. They mainly use a bio-based material PLA and transparent PET made from recycled plastic. PLA give customers the ability to choose a large range of colours – matching RAL or Pantone colours. And the PET is perfect for their lighting range, giving a nice and warm light.
That “remaking” phase particularly raises my attention as it is not always seen in normal production flows. This means that they probably reuse the made parts, directly or through material recycling.
I don’t know if they can only rely on this business model in the long run, but in 5 years of existence, they seem to already have produce 100 000 parts – which is pretty impressive. Their latest announced collaboration is with Morrama | Certified B Corp. Named Kibu, the project is based on headphones, designed to be assembled and customised by kids, with each component being replaceable and recyclable. The headphones will be manufactured by Batch.Works in Hackney, London, with recycled PLA made from packaging waste from the agricultural industry using their fused deposition modelling method developed in-house.
Moving forward, the company aims to launch Batch.Systems, a scalable on-site manufacturing, user friendly operations with a new level of automation.
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