Future homes might be framed with recycled plastic
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers are using recycled plastic to 3D print construction-grade beams, trusses and other structural elements that could one day offer lighter, modular and more sustainable alternatives to traditional wood-based framing. The MIT team presented the design for a 3D-printed floor truss system made from recycled plastic in a paper published in the Solid FreeForm Fabrication Symposium Proceedings. The researchers envision that as global demand for housing eclipses the supply of wood in the coming years, single-use plastics such as water bottles and food containers could get a second life as recycled framing material to alleviate both a global housing crisis and the overwhelming demand for timber.
“We’ve estimated that the world needs about 1 billion new homes by 2050. If we try to make that many homes using wood, we would need to clear-cut the equivalent of the Amazon rainforest three times over,” says AJ Perez, a lecturer in the MIT School of Engineering and research scientist in the MIT Office of Innovation. “The key here is: We recycle dirty plastic into building products for homes that are lighter, more durable, and sustainable.”
