How to Safely Dispose of Formlabs Resin
29/04/2021
Along with the standard maintenance and care of your FormLabs printer, it’s important for you to know how to safely dispose of any liquid resin for 3D Printers.
Safety and Handling
First off, it’s important to always consult the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) to fully understand how to handle Formlabs materials. It’s important to abide by all the recommended procedures to avoid any accidents. For example, eating, drinking and smoking should not be permitted in the working area.
Since resin can cause skin irritation or and allergic skin reaction, it’s also essential to wear gloves when handling liquid resin or resin-coated surfaces. If there are any remnants on the skin, refrain from using isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or other solvents to remove it. Your best solution is to wash the skin with soap and water. In the case of any serious injuries, you should consult your doctor immediately.
Formlabs 3D Printer Resin Disposal
When you are about to dispose of the liquid 3D Printer resin, you are required to abide by the standard environmental regulations. In this case, any resin that has not been cured or dissolved in a solvent, should be disposed of in your chemical disposal stream.
If on the other hand you don’t have a chemical disposal stream, here are a few steps you should follow:
- Start by pouring a small amount of resin into a container. Make sure that it’s transparent and that it’s labelled accordingly.
- Allow the container to be exposed to sunlight for around 1 to 10 days. 405nm light and heat should be the most effective solution for better curing into solid material.
- Finally, you can disposed the fully-cured resin and container with your regular waste. Any paper towels or supplies that have come into contact with the resin should also be exposed to light and disposed of in the same way.
- Never pour the liquid or partially cured resin into drains or with household waste. The same applies for any isopropyl alcohol containing dissolved resin.
- Emptying Resin Cartridges
When it comes to emptying resin cartridges in the States, these are considered RCRA empty by EPA standards. If you abide by local environmental regulations, these can be disposed with your regular waste.
Additionally, you can rinse the cartridge with fresh IPA to remove any traces of excess resin. Once you’re finished, you can add the IPA to your chemical waste stream.
- Resin Tanks
Avoid pouring liquid resin back into the thank since it can seriously damage the cartridge with cured resin pieces or debris.
Start by filtering the resin before transferring it into a new tank. This will ensure that no debris or cured parts remain. The old thank should then be exposed to light and heat to cure the excess resin. Eventually, the tank should also be discarded with household items.
- Cured Resin
Since cleaned parts and cured resin cannot be recycled, this should be disposed with household items as trash.
Resin Spills
In order to avoid any resin spills, it’s important to not fill past the maximum fill line. If any spills do occur, it’s essential to follow cleaning instructions and contact Formlabs Support to report the spill.
As stated previously, if spills occur outside the printer, wash all the surfaces with plenty of soap and water. Furthermore, it’s important to spot test the cleaner on a small surface area when using IPA or other solvents, to make sure that the solvent won’t damage the material.