What to do with the millions ‘even billions ‘of jugs, shampoo bottles and other types of plastics that most often end up in trash dumps around the world? Tyler McNaney, a 19-year-old freshman has invented the answer. The Filabot Reclaimer, a desktop device that grinds up and melts those plastic throw-aways, turning them into spools of plastic filament that can be used with desktop 3-D printers. 3-D printers can make a wide range of plastic parts, from cups to doorknobs.
McNaney, a mechanical engineering major, has already raised more than $30,000 in growth capital on the entrepreneurial website Kickstarter, a funding platform for creative upstarts. He was featured on MSNBC news in January and has been named to a list of the â Most Successful Entrepreneurs of the Next Ten Years’by the World Future Society, which will feature McNaneyâ s work at World Future 2012, the organizationâ s conference that will take place in Toronto in July. The conference brings together a global mix of world-renowned researchers, up-and-coming thought leaders, innovators and trendsetters who will focus on a wide range of foresight techniques and global trends that will influence the future.
â I hit the ground running with the Filabot idea at the end of last year,’explains McNaney, who expects the Filabot Reclaimer will retail for approximately $800. â I think itâ s going to be something really, really big. It allows anyone to make something useful with plastic. The possibilities for what 3-D printers can make are endless.’
More information about this new invention may be found at filabot.com. McNaney is from Milton, Vermont.
About Vermont Technical College ‘Vermont Technical College is the only public institution of higher learning in Vermont whose mission is applied education. One of the five Vermont State Colleges, Vermont Tech serves students from throughout Vermont, New England, and beyond at its two primary campuses in Williston and Randolph Center, and at nine nursing campuses located throughout the state. Our academic programs encompass a wide range of engineering, agricultural, health, and business fields that are vital to producing the knowledge workers need most by employers in the state and in the region. www.vtc.edu.
Randolph, VT,May 16, 2012