u/Benito2034

Hi r/SampleSize,

I'm an MSc student researching filament waste recycling in 3D printing communities - specifically looking at whether hobbyists and professionals are currently recycling their waste filament, and what barriers or motivations exist.

If you own or regularly use a 3D printer, I'd really appreciate ~3 minutes of your time to complete this anonymous survey:

FDM Filament Recycling – Fill out form

The survey covers:

- How you currently dispose of filament waste

- Awareness of desktop recycling machines

- Willingness to adopt recycling practices

All responses are anonymous and used solely for academic research. Thank you!

Hi all,

I'm an MSc student at Imperial College London. My project is designing a low-cost open-source FDM filament recycler. The goal is to keep the total build cost under £500 while producing filament consistent enough to actually use reliably.

Before finalising the design requirements I want to understand what would actually make a recycler worth using from the perspective of people who print regularly. Specifically I'm trying to get a clearer picture of:

- Whether filament waste is something people think about at all

- What the main barriers are to recycling it (cost, inconsistent output, effort, or something else)

- What features would matter most in a low-cost machine

If you have a view on any of this - whether you currently recycle, have tried it, or have never considered it - I'd be glad to hear it in the comments.

I also have a short anonymous survey (5 questions, ~3 minutes) if you're happy to contribute more formally:

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=B3WJK4zudUWDC0-CZ8PTB10SCIpbT_5Bm67Jm-dNj0hUQzNONDFOVEVIOUVCU0wyNUhYTFpFVEI2RC4u&route=shorturl

No personal data collected. Fully anonymous.

Hi all,

I’m an MSc student at Imperial designing a sub-£500 open-source filament recycler and I need your help validating what the issues there are with current solutions (if any), and if there are specific features people would want.

🔗 [Fill in the survey here ~3 minutes, fully anonymous](FDM Filament Recycling – Fill out form)

**What it covers:**

- How much filament you 3D print

- Your familiarity with filament recycling machines

- Whether cost, effort, or lack of interest is the real barrier

- Any issues you see with current recycling options

No personal data is collected. All responses directly inform my project requirements.

The description here is intentionally ambiguous so as to get broader thoughts on the topic.

Feel free to give thoughts in the comments too - especially if you’ve tried (or looked into) DIY extrusion. Thanks!